E-Paper
Umesh Pal murder:Police detain aide of Atiq’s son, nephew of murder accused
Raids are being carried out by the special task force (STF), crime branch and police teams for Umesh Pal’s assailants on whom a reward of ₹5 lakh has been declared.
Police have detained two persons for allegedly helping mafioso Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad and other assailants involved in murder of lawyer Umesh Pal in Prayagraj on February 24.
Raids are being carried out by the special task force (STF), crime branch and police teams for Umesh Pal’s assailants on whom a reward of ₹5 lakh has been declared.
On Tuesday, the police detained a youth identified as Sonu from Chakia locality. They said an illegal pistol was recovered from Sonu and added that it could have been used in Umesh Pal’s murder. Two police security guards of Umesh who were injured in the attack on Umesh had also died later.
Police claimed that Sonu was close to Atiq’s third son Asad and had helped him escape after Umesh’s murder.
Apart from Sonu, crime branch team also picked up one Mohd Arshad aka Arshad Katra for questioning. Arshad is said to be close to Gulam, one of the assailants involved in Umesh’s murder.
Police said Arshad is the nephew of Akhtar Katra, an accused in the murder of city’s prominent surgeon Dr AK Bansal in 2016. Police suspects that Arshad arranged for pistols that were used by assailants in killing Umesh.
Akhtar Katra was arrested in 2015 for conspiring the killing of gangster Santosh Yadav’s brother and another person near Naini Central Jail. The murder was committed in the same pattern as Umesh Pal’s as the assailants hurled crude bombs and opened fire from all sides on the SUV. In 2016, police said Akhtar had despite being in jail arranged assailants for killing the city doctor, police said.
