Pal case: SC order a big blow to ?manipulators?

THE Apex court order in the Raju Pal murder case has come as a big blow to the alleged manipulating techniques of MP Atique Ahmad and his cronies.

THE Apex court order in the Raju Pal murder case has come as a big blow to the alleged manipulating techniques of MP Atique Ahmad and his cronies.

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According to SK Dwivedi, lawyer of Puja Pal (wife of slain BSP MLA Raju Pal), the court has not only stayed the proceedings in this case till further orders, but has also directed the UP government to file an affidavit elaborating the developments in the case being tried in the fast track court in Allahabad. It may be mentioned that many eyebrows were raised when as many as eight witnesses along with three witnesses injured in the shoot-out turned hostile. This shocking turn of events facilitated the bail of all the accused.

But, perhaps when Atique Ahmad and his henchmen were expediting the much-hyped murder case in which they are accused, they probably had no idea that Best Bakery massacre case and Jessica Lal murder case in which the Supreme Court took strong exception to witnesses turning hostile would come as a bane for them.

Sources say, in Raju Pal murder case a cursory glance over the sequence of events beginning from December 28, 2004 when Pal escaped an attempt on his life till January 25, 2005 when he was slain, is enough to indicate that it was allegedly a premeditated murder in which cops played doubtful role at the behest of the ruling party.

When Pal lodged a named FIR against Ashraf and others about the December 28 shoot-out, police officers of this district got the name of the main accused removed from the FIR within 24 hours. This hasty step on the part of the cops to help Ashraf, brother of SP MLA Ateeq Ahmad is enough indicator that cops were playing to the tunes of the powers-that-be. Later through the call details of Ashraf's mobile it was proved that he was present in the area of the shoot-out. On his part Pal cried hoarse that Ashraf and his brigade were out to gun him down but the cops turned a deaf year.

Then came the murder on the fateful afternoon of January 25, 2005. Three persons were left dead and three others were injured. The evidence of the injured holds lot of weight. But the cops had something else up their sleeves.
They got together to plan how to destroy the evidence in this case. Pal's vehicle, Toyota Qualis, which had tell-tale marks with bullets piercing its windscreen and other parts was treated as no evidence to the extent that even the forensic and ballistic examination of the vehicle was not carried out.

Empty cartridge shells at the spot of murder were left in a manner as if these were redundant. With the result that some of the empty shells were even picked up by the curious public.

Police made no efforts to get the statement of prosecution witnesses recorded under Section 164 IPC.

The autopsy of the three bodies including that of the MLA was carried out stealthily without the presence or knowledge of the family members in an illegal manner throwing all norms overboard. Even worse, the cremation was carried out by the police and the administration in the wee hours in an undignified manner. What came as a shock was the effort of some senior police officers to pressurise the IO Parshuram Singh to tamper with the evidence. Upset the IO filed a writ in the HC after which his bosses suspended him for not toeing their line.

What can be a bigger proof to this murder which was brought to the knowledge of the state government by the LIU in its report even before it was committed, say sources.