A man accused of killing a witness of the murder of an MLA in Uttar Pradesh has been shot dead by the state police. Vijay alias Usman Chowdhary was gunned down by the police in an encounter early on Monday in Prayagraj’s Kaundhiyara, the UP police said. Another accused in the Umesh Pal murder, Mohd Arbaz, was killed in an encounter last Monday.
Usman Chowdhary was allegedly among the assailants who fired at Umesh Pal in the shootout on February 24. He was a resident of the Amokhar village area of Kaundhiyara. He was taken to the Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital where the doctors declared him dead on arrival, said SRN Police outpost in-charge Sanjay Gupta, as per a Hindustan Times report.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said in the assembly that “mafia ko mitti mein mila denge” (we will eliminate mafia).
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What was the case?
Umesh Pal was the prime witness in the 2005 Bahujan Samaj Party lawmaker Raju Pal murder case. Former Samajwadi Party MP Atiq Ahmad and his brother Khalid Azeem, alongside close aides, are accused in the Raju Pal’s murder case and are currently in jail.
On February 24, Umesh Pal, his nephew and two security personnel Sandeep Nishad and Raghvendra Singh went to the court for a hearing in the case.
Gunmen attacked them in the Dhoomanganj area of Prayagraj. Umesh Pal was shot dead outside his residence and Sandeep Nishad was also killed in the attack. One of his security men was hit in the firing and died later at a hospital, officials said.
A second police constable injured in the shootout died of injuries on March 1.
A couple of days later, Arbaz, who allegedly drove the getaway vehicle of the assailants, was killed in an encounter in Prayagraj.
A case was registered at Dhoomanganj police station against Atiq Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, his wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam and nine others based on the complaint by Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal.
Atiq Ahmed, who is currently in Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad in the Raju Pal murder case, is believed to have ordered the attack and the murder of Umesh Pal.
The Uttar Pradesh Police announced a reward of Rs 2.5 lakh each for giving information about the five accused, including gangster and former MP Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad, on Sunday.
The Prayagraj police shot down Mohd Arbaaz within 72 hours of the attack.
Later, authorities also demolished the house of a criminal allegedly linked to Atiq Ahmed in UP’s Prayagraj on Friday amid heavy police deployment. This was the third demolition action taken against properties linked to Atiq Ahmed in three days.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
