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Umesh Pal kidnapping case: CBI officer appeared as defence witness for Atiq Ahmed
Prayagraj police preparing a detailed report of alleged misconduct, state home dept will send it to MHA, CBI
The Prayagraj police are preparing a detailed report of alleged misconduct and “criminal liaison” on the part of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) deputy superintendent of police (SP), who appeared as a defence witness for the former Phulpur MP in the Umesh Pal kidnapping case despite being the investigating officer in the Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Raju Pal murder case of 2005 in which mafioso-turned politician Atiq Ahmed was the prime accused and Umesh Pal a key witness.
Amit Kumar, deputy SP with CBI, appeared as a defence witness for Atiq in the Umesh Pal kidnapping case, court documents available with HT showed. Atiq was sentenced to life imprisonment in this case on March 28.
“The state home department will be sending the report to the ministry of home affairs and the CBI this week,” said one of the officers, and the two others confirmed it.
Kumar investigated Raju Pal’s murder between 2016 and 2019.
The government has viewed with a sense of absolute shock that the CBI officer, who chargesheeted Atiq, his brother Khalid Azim alias Ashraf and others in the Raju Pal murder case, appeared for him as a defence witness in a related case.
Although it doesn’t affect the current case directly, the fact that the investigating officer in the much talked about Raju Pal murder appeared as a defence witness for Atiq in another case raises questions about the fairness of the investigation in the Raju Pal murder case, people familiar with the matter said.
A senior officer said the conduct of the officer was morally, ethically, and technically wrong and spoke volumes of Atiq Ahmed’s clout.
Amit Kumar’s name, rank and testimony are all mentioned in the court order awarding life sentence to Atiq Ahmed by additional district judge Dinesh Chandra Shukla.
Umesh Pal, a prime witness in the Raju Pal murder case, was shot dead in Prayagraj on February 24. His two police bodyguards were also killed in the incident. About 17 years ago, Umesh Pal was kidnapped in 2006 and the case in this connection was registered in 2007.
As defence witness (DW) no. 41. Kumar appeared in the MP/MLA court and gave a “long testimony” before he was cross-examined by the prosecution. He chose to be a defence witness despite the fact that he was in no way associated with investigation in the Umesh Pal kidnapping case.
Several witnesses in the Raju Pal case and those who were also injured in firing, namely Saifullah alias Saif, Sadiq, Om Prakash, Mahendra Pratap and Umesh Pal, had lodged FIRs that they were kidnapped by Atiq and his gang members in order to build pressure to give testimony as the mafioso wished.
In his testimony, Kumar told the court about the findings that he came across during investigation of the Raju Pal murder case. During cross-examination, he was asked as to why he dropped Umesh Pal as an eyewitness when he was one in the Prayagraj police’s chargesheet.
Amit Kumar replied that Umesh Pal and Pooja Pal, sitting MLA and complainant in the Raju Pal case, had come together to the Dhoomangunj police station in Prayagraj with their complaints after Raju Pal’s murder.
After the Supreme Court ordered a CBI investigation into the murder in 2016 and Kumar took over, Umesh Pal was asked as to why he did not mention in his complaint that he was on the crime scene on the fateful day. He was unable to answer, Kumar claimed.
Second, he alleged that Umesh Pal was not kidnapped as told by injured witnesses in the Raju Pal case, and that they had turned hostile under pressure from Umesh Pal. He named several witnesses in the testimony.
When asked, government counsel Sushil Vaishya, who led the prosecution in the Umesh Pal kidnapping case, said Atiq’s legal team had taken Kumar on board as a defence witness for which an application was filed and allowed by the court.
“CBI deputy SP Amit Kumar had questioned Umesh Pal but he did not mention it in the case diary. He (Umesh Pal) was a strong witness, but he was not taken as one by CBI. What were the reasons behind it is beyond my comprehension,” he said.
