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Another accused in Umesh Pal murder case killed in encounter
Umesh Pal, the key witness in the former BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, and his police security guards Sandeep Nishad and Raghvendra Singh were shot on February 24 outside his home in the Dhoomanganj area.
An accused in Umesh Pal murder case was killed in an encounter by a Prayagraj police team in the early hours of Monday, officials said. The encounter took place under the Kaundhiyara police station area of Prayagraj located in trans-Yamuna area. The accused, Vijay Chaudhary aka Usman alias Naan Babu, 27, was a resident of Amokhar village area of Kaundhiyara.
Chaudhary was rushed to the Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead, said SRN Police outpost in-charge Sanjay Gupta.
Dr Badri Vishal Singh, Emergency Medical Officer, SRN Hospital said, “Patient Usman was brought dead. We performed the examinations following which he was declared dead and the body was sent to the mortuary. He was shot.”
Reacting to the encounter, BJP MLA Shalabh Mani Tripathi said, "Didn't we say that we will destroy them (mafia nexus)!! Usman, the dreaded killer who fired the first shot at Umesh Pal and Sandeep Nishad, was also killed in a police encounter today."
Gorakhpur MP Ravi Kishan tweeted, "Pujya Maharaj @myogiadityanath ji had said that they (mafia nexus) will be destroyed. The dreaded absconding killer Usman, who fired the first shot at Umesh Pal and Sandeep Nishad, was also killed in an encounter by the police today #up."
On February 24, advocate Umesh Pal was killed outside his residence in the Sulem Sarai area of Prayagraj. His two police security guards were also injured. One of them, constable Sandeep Nishad, died later the same day while the other bodyguard, Raghvendra Singh, succumbed to his injuries at SGPGIMS-Lucknow on March 1.
Umesh Pal was a key witness in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder in Prayagraj in which mafioso-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother and former MLA Khalid Azeem aka Ashraf, besides many close aides, are the prime accused.
The Prayagraj police had also shot dead another accused, Mohd Arbaaz, within 72 hours of Umesh Pal's murder. Arbaaz, 22, was a resident of Sallahpur village in Puramufti area of the neighbouring Kaushambi district.
(With agency inputs)
