Umesh Pal murder case: Mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad, his wife among others named in FIR

PRAYAGRAJ: A day after Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal, was shot dead along with one of his police gunners on Friday, police lodged an FIR against mafioso-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad, his wife Shaista Parveen, brother Khalid Azeem alias Ashraf, his two sons and several others on Friday night.
Sources said police have detained 17 persons, including two sons of Ahmad, for quizzing.
Police commissioner Ramit Sharma said that 10 police teams carried out a series of raids at different spots to nab the accused. Ahmad, facing nearly 100 criminal cases, is already in Sabarmati jail.
Umesh Pal's wife Jaya in her complaint said her husband Umesh Pal alias Krishna Kumar Pal (43) was the prime witness in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case in which Atiq was the main accused.
“My husband was kidnapped by Atiq and his henchmen in 2006 to mount pressure to turn hostile following which he had lodged a case against them. On February 24, my husband along with his two gunners -- Sandeep Nishad and Raghendra Singh -- had gone to a local court for hearing in the case. After returning, as Umesh stepped out of his car, a group of armed assailants, including the son of Atiq Ahmad along with Guddu Muslim, Gulam and others, opened indiscriminate firing on my husband and two of his police gunners.”
Pal and one of his gunners Sandeep Nishad died during treatment while Raghvendra Singh was battling for life at the SRN hospital, police said.
Jaya alleged that “Atiq, his wife Shaista and brother Ashraf were the main conspirators while his sons and close associates were involved in the execution of crime". Jaya also told police that the incident took place between 4:45 pm and 5 pm on Friday and she would be able to recognise the criminals involved in the nefarious act.
“Based on the complaint of Pal’s wife Jaya, an FIR was lodged under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, section 3 of explosive act and section 7 in the Criminal Law Amendment (CLA) act against Atiq Ahmad and others,” police commissioner Sharma said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, heavy police force was deployed at Sulemsarai and adjoining areas near the house of Pal after scores of supporters of the slain lawyer assembled there. Locals claimed that besides the Raju Pal murder case, Umesh was also pursuing two other cases. “Being the prime witness in the Raju Pal murder case, he was threatened, attacked and abducted by miscreants in 2006 and 2016, following which two separate cases were registered,” the family members added.