Will expel mafia-turned politician Atiq Ahmed's wife from BSP if found involved in lawyer's murder, says Mayawati

LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Monday said her party would expel mafia-turned politician Atiq Ahmed's wife Shahista Praveen, named in an FIR in the killing of a prime witness in the BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, if she was found guilty during probe.

She also charged at the Samajwadi Party, terming Atiq Ahmed its “product”.

"There are reports about the registration of an FIR against Atiq Ahmed's son and his wife in connection with the murder of lawyer Umesh Pal, an important witness in the Raju Pal murder case in Prayagraj, and his gunner. The BSP has taken serious cognisance of this. The BSP has decided that Shaista Parveen, wife of Atiq Ahmed, will be expelled from the party as soon as she is proved guilty in the ongoing investigation of this matter,” Mayawati said in a tweet in Hindi.

“It is also well known that Atiq Ahmed is the product of Samajwadi Party, the party where he became MP and MLA, etc. And now Raju Pal's wife has also gone from the BSP to the SP, the party she used to blame earlier. Therefore, under this guise, it is not right to do any politics under," she said.

"It is also known that the BSP does not punish any innocent person for the crime committed by his or her family or community. It is also true that the party does not promote criminal elements of any caste or religion," Mayawati added.

Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, was shot dead in Prayagraj on February 24. One of his gunners, who too was hit during the firing, died later.

The main accused in the Raju Pal murder case is mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, currently lodged in a Gujarat jail.

On the basis of a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered at Dhoomanganj police station (in Prayagraj) against Atiq Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Gulam and nine others.

They were booked under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Explosive Substances Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act.

Jaya Pal had alleged that her husband was the prime witness in the Raju Pal murder case. In 2006, Atiq Ahmed and his aides had allegedly abducted him and forced him to give a statement in court in their favour. Umesh Pal had registered a complaint in this regard and the case was going on in the court.

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