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BSP MLA murder case: Daylight attack leaves prime witness dead in Prayagraj
A dozen men shot multiple rounds at the prime witness in the BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, lawyer Umesh Pal, at his residence in Sulem Sarai area, under Dhumanganj police station, on Friday evening
A dozen men shot multiple rounds at the prime witness in the BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, lawyer Umesh Pal, at his residence in Sulem Sarai area, under Dhumanganj police station, on Friday evening.
Two of Pal’s security personnel were also critically injured in the attack. The assailants then fled the incident spot, no more than 200 meters from the police station.
Umesh Pal succumbed to injuries at the SRN Hospital while his security personnel, Sandeep Nishad and Raghvendra, were still under treatment, commissioner of police, Prayagraj, Ramit Sharma said.
He said that Prayagraj district borders have been sealed and eight to 10 teams have been formed to flush out the culprits.
Primary investigations revealed that the assailants arrived at Pal’s house at around 5 pm on motorcycles and in cars. They opened fire on Pal while he was going inside his house with his security guards, officials said.
Eye witnesses said that the assailants also hurled several crude bombs. The crude bombs caused heavy smoke which aided the assailants to flee. It is suspected that the assailants were following Pal while he was returning from court.
Footage of the incident that went viral showed an assailant firing at Pal as soon as he alighted from the car. Soon other assailants also appeared and chased an injured Pal as he ran inside his house in a bid to save himself. He was shot multiple times by the assailants who followed him inside his residence.
Another assailant could be seen carrying a bag of crude bombs. He hurled multiple crude bombs at Pal’s car and around the incident spot to create terror and confusion among locals. Pal’s security personnel also received multiple bullet injuries. Police officials said that one of them was critical and was undergoing treatment in the ICU of SRN Hospital.
CP Sharma said that Pal’s kin were yet to give a complaint to the police. The police is identifying assailants through CCTV footage and an FIR will be lodged after receiving a complaint from the next of kin, Sharma added.
Pal’s fellow lawyer, Vikram Sinha, said a final stage hearing into Umesh Pal’s abduction case was held at 2.30 pm at the district court. Umesh was at the court with them and left with his security personnel at around 4.30 pm, he added.
Pal was the prime witness in BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case. Pal was allegedly abducted by Mafiosi-turned-politician and former MP Atiq Ahmad’s henchmen and threatened not to give a statement in the case. On Pal’s complaint an FIR was lodged against Atiq and others for abduction and issuing threats.
BSP MLA, Raju Pal was shot dead in broad daylight in Prayagraj on January 25, 2005, and 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 (then) Allahabad (West) assembly seat in his electoral debut by defeating Atiq Ahmad’s younger brother, Ashraf. The by-election was necessitated after Atiq, a five-time MLA from the seat, got elected to Lok Sabha from the Phulpur parliamentary seat.
