Crime and politics go hand in hand in Uttar Pradesh. An example of this was seen on 24 February. When Umesh Pal was shot dead by three unknown assailants in Prayagraj. Umesh Pal was the only witness to the murder of Raju Pal in the year 2005.
Umesh Pal was the brother-in-law of Raju Pal and was the main witness of the murder that happened 18 years ago on 25 January 2005. The decision of the MP/MLA court was also to come in the next 6 weeks in this case which has been going on for almost two decades.
The UP police arrested Atiq’s brother, his wife Sahista Parveen in the Umesh Pal murder case. And lodged an FIR against his sons Ahzaan and Aban. The police have also detained a total of 14 people including Atiq Ahmed’s son for questioning. A total of 10 teams have been formed under the leadership of Joint CP of Prayagraj to nab the accused in the case.
Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya alleged that, ‘Atiq Ahmed’s sons Guddu Muslim and Ghulam My husband was attacked, they opened fire and threw crude bombs at him. After the attack, Umesh was taken to the hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.
What happened on the day of Umesh Pal’s murder?
< p>According to the CCTV footage recording, Umesh Pal and his two bodyguards were sitting in a white Hyundai Creta, when six assailants came near the car and started firing. Umesh Pal tried to run away but by then Umesh had been attacked. Due to which he died.
What was the Raju Pal murder case?
What happened to Umesh Pal three days ago i.e. on February 24, Its strings are linked to the events of 2005. Raju Pal was a leader who wanted to start his political career in Prayagraj against his arch rival Ateeq Ahmed and his family.
In the 2002 assembly elections, Raju Pal won from Prayagraj West. Contested against Atiq Ahmed from the seat, but lost. In 2004, this seat was vacant after the resignation of Atiq, at that time Atiq became MP from Phulpur seat in the Lok Sabha elections. Atiq chose his brother Khalid Azim alias Mohammad Ashraf to hold his seat. Since Atiq was a close aide of former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Raju Pal was supported by Yadav’s arch-rival Mayawati and He got the ticket from BSP.
Pal defeated Khalid Azim by a narrow margin of 4,818 seats. Now since Atiq had won from this seat five times since 1989, he had to face defeat for the first time because of Raju Pal. That’s why Atiq’s family took this defeat on their pride.
First chased in a car, then opened fire
25 In January 2005, Raju Pal was returning home from Swaroop Rani Nehru (SRN) Hospital. Raju Pal had come to this hospital to ask for the post-mortem of a boy’s body to be done quickly, the boy was from Raju Pal’s constituency. Reports claim that two cars were following Raju Pal since afternoon.
Raju Pal left the hospital and sat in a Toyota Qualis. Raju was driving the car himself. Some people were following them in a Scorpio car.
On the way, Pal stopped in the middle to give lift to his supporter Sadiq’s sister Ruksana. About a few meters away from Sulem Sarai in Nehru Park, the car-borne assailants overpowered Raju Pal’s car and started firing within seconds. About 25 sharp shooters had come that day to kill Raju Pal and they had all kinds of sophisticated weapons.
According to eyewitnesses, after firing, people put Raju Pal in tempos and ran towards the hospital. The sharp shooters who came to commit murder might have saved MLA Raju Pal. They came again and kept firing on the tempos for several kilometres. By the time he reached the hospital, Raju Pal’s body was already charred. The postmortem report revealed more than 15 bullet injuries. Raju Pal died on the spot. Along with him, his two bodyguards Sandeep Yadav and Devi Lal also died.
MLA Raju Pal was married only 9 months ago. When the BSP workers got the news of the murder of MLA Raju Pal, they started vandalizing the entire city. This massacre lasted for many years. It can be guessed that after the death of Sal Raju, the Phulpur Assembly by-election took place in which Raju Pal’s wife Pooja Pal had to face defeat at the hands of Atiq’s brother Ashraf. People said that no one wanted to have enmity with Atiq. In such a situation, no one had the courage to vote against his brother.
After Pal’s death, an FIR was registered against 9 people
Soon after Pal’s death, his wife Pooja Pal lodged an FIR against Ateeq Ahmed and his brother Mohd Ashraf and Ateeq’s men. The names of Farhan, Abid, Ranjit Pal, Gufran were included in this. In all, FIRs were registered against 9 people under various charges.
Raju Pal had been attacked before
Surprisingly It is that this was not the first time that Raju Pal was attacked by Atiq Ahmed’s men. After winning the election, Atiq’s men attacked Pal twice. Raju was afraid of Atiq, so he had also demanded security for himself. But the security that Raju got was not enough.
Who got Phulpur seat after Raju Pal’s death
This seat after Raju Pal’s death was left empty. When the by-elections were held in 2005, Atiq’s brother won this seat again. In 2007, Pooja Pal won this seat on Apna Dal ticket. In the year 2012 also, Pooja Pal defeated Atiq Ahmed. In 2017, Pooja Pal lost to BJP’s Siddharth Nath Singh. In 2022, Pooja Pal got ticket from Samajwadi Party and won from Chail constituency.
Intrigue behind Umesh Pal’s murder
The story behind the murder of Umesh Pal is very mysterious. The reason is that Umesh Pal had become very close to Atiq Ahmed. And he had a sour relationship with his sister Pooja Pal. The brother and sister did not speak to each other from 2005 to 2016. At one time Umesh had also given a statement in favor of Atiq Ahmed in the court. This enraged Pooja Pal.
According to Pooja Pal, the conversation between the two brother-sister started when in the year 2016, Umesh said something Along with his friends, he came to his house to apologize. Still, Pooja Pal was angry with Ateeq Ahmed for not completely severing her relationship. Pooja was also seen arguing with Umesh Pal’s family at his funeral.
Know the history of Atiq
Atiq currently belongs to Gujarat. Locked up in jail. Atiq is accused of attacking the employees of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences. His political journey began in 1989 when he won the MLA seat from Prayagraj West as an independent candidate. After retaining his seat in the next two assembly elections, Ahmed joined the SP and won a fourth consecutive term in 1996. Three years later, he became a part of Apna Dal and won the seat once again in 2002.
After returning to the SP in 2004, he became the MP from the Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency, a seat once held in India. The first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had it.
Atiq’s first major setback was when his name cropped up in the Raju Pal murder case. And an FIR was registered on him. According to the Indian Express report, due to political and police pressure, Atiq Ahmed surrendered in 2008 and was released in 2012. After this, he contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on SP ticket, but lost. During this, Ateeq’s relationship with SP started deteriorating and Ateeq’s condition started getting worse.
Akhilesh Yadav had distanced himself from Atiq Ahmed because of his criminal record. In February 2017, Atiq was arrested by the police for assaulting the staff of the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences in Prayagraj. Despite being in jail, Atiq won the Prime Minister from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in 2019 contested against Narendra Modi and got merely 855 votes.
According to media reports, Atiq Ahmed, 60, faces 70 charges of murder, attempt to murder, criminal intimidation and assault Cases have been registered in more than 100 cases.