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Umesh Pal murder: 10 police teams search for assailants as hunt widens
Police officials said teams had been sent to different districts, including Lucknow, Sultanpur, and districts bordering Nepal in search of the shooters
Even as police are scanning call details of suspects in the February 24 murder of Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 killing of the then BSP MLA Raju Pal, probe suggests that some shooters involved in the crime were outsiders.
Police also claimed to have got some vital clues during the scanning of the phone call details of the suspects. In several raids during the last two days, police teams have rounded up around 25 people in connection with the incident.
They are also tracing whereabouts of shooters involved in the crime. Meanwhile, police officials said teams had been sent to different districts, including Lucknow, Sultanpur, and districts bordering Nepal in search of the shooters.
Some cops who have earlier headed crime branch and SOG teams have also been roped in to trace the assailants, officials said. Besides local police, special task force (STF) teams too have been roped in to trace the killers.
ADG, STF, Amitabh Yash is heading the STF teams engaged in tracing the shooters. He has been camping in Prayagraj since Saturday night. Police teams are also carrying out raids to arrest the two named accused Guddu Muslim and Gulam.
Investigations have revealed that Guddu Muslim, a resident of Rajrooppur locality in Prayagraj, has been an associate of Atiq Ahmad and is hiding in neighbouring Kaushambi district.
Guddu Muslim has been identified as the person seen throwing crude bombs in the CCTV footage of the crime. He was also named in the Raju Pal murder case in 2005. Another shooter seen wearing a helmet and fleeing on a bike with Guddu in CCTV footage is suspected to be one Arman, who hails from Gaya in Bihar.
“Arman at present lives in Civil Lines and is on the run,” a senior cop said. Another named accused Gulam has been identified as the brother of BJP city minority cell president Rahil Hasan. “Gulam is a resident of Mehendauri area and is also at large,” another police officer said.
“The police are also searching for one of Atiq’s sons who is at large,” he added. Police commissioner, Prayagraj, Ramit Sharma said 10 police teams had been formed to arrest the shooters involved in the murder.
Meanwhile, security personnel deployed on the Indo-Nepal Border were put on alert on Sunday after inputs from intelligence agencies about the possible sneaking of the assailants involved in Umesh Pal’s murder.
ADG, Gorakhpur zone, Akhil Kumar said directives had been issued to all police head of Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj, Balrampur and Bahraich districts. Security forces in these districts had been put in alert mode, he added.
He said four assailants had been identified and their photographs had been provided to all police heads in the zone. Kumar said Sashastra Seema Bal jawans were carrying out intensive patrolling and police personnel were checking vehicles in the border area.
