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Umesh Pal murder case: Police raise reward on five alleged shooters to ₹2.5 lakh each
Recommendation to be sent to the Uttar Pradesh home department to increase reward to ₹5 lakh each, says an official
Uttar Pradesh police officiating director general of police (DGP) DS Chauhan on Sunday raised the reward for the arrest of shooters in the Umesh Pal murder case to ₹2.5 lakh each, a senior official said. The move comes as the police have failed to trace the shooters even eight days after the murder on February 24.
Jailed mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad is among the alleged shooters on whom the reward has been raised.
Additional director general (ADG), Law and Order, Prashant Kumar confirmed the DGP has raised the reward from ₹50,000 to ₹2.5 lakh each on all five shooters identified from video footage of the sensational incident.
He said the five shooters were Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad, Guddu Muslim, Arman, Mohd Gulam and Sabir.
Umesh Pal, a lawyer, was the prime witness in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal. Atiq is an accused in the murders of Raju Pal and Umesh Pal.
Besides Umesh Pal, his two police bodyguards, Sandeep Nishad and Raghvevndra Singh, died after the February 24 attack.
Another senior police official said the DGP had the authority to announce the maximum reward of ₹2.5 lakh each for the arrest of any criminal. He said a recommendation will be sent to the state home department to further increase the reward to ₹5 lakh each. He also said the state government will take a decision on increasing the reward further.
On February 24 evening, five people opened indiscriminate fire on Umesh Pal in Sulem Sarai area under Dhumanganj police station limits in Prayagraj. One of the assailants, later identified as Guddu Muslim, hurled crude bombs to create panic and keep onlookers away
The crude bombs caused heavy smoke which aided the assailants to flee.
The incident triggered panic in Prayagraj and other parts of the state as Umesh Pal was attacked in full public view.
Other than being the prime witness in the Raju Pal murder case, Umesh Pal had also lodged five more cases against Atiq Ahmad and his henchmen allegedly for abducting him and threatening him not to make a statement in the case.
BSP MLA Raju Pal was shot dead in Prayagraj (then Allahabad) on January 25, 2005. Atiq is one of the accused in this sensational murder case. A CBI inquiry was ordered by the Supreme Court in 2016 in this case. Raju Pal was murdered barely three months after he won the Allahabad (West) assembly seat on his electoral debut by defeating Atiq Ahmad’s younger brother Khalid Azim aka Ashraf, who is also an accused in the murders of Raju Pal and Umesh Pal.
