Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal murder case, was shot dead at his residence in Prayagraj, the police said. The attack was caught on multiple CCTV cameras.
The witness was shot dead by an unidentified man while he was getting out of a Hyundai Creta SUV in Prayagraj, the camera footage showed. Raju Pal, BSP MLA from Allahabad West, was shot dead on January 25, 2005, in broad daylight.
He was murdered just three months after winning the assembly seat in Allahabad (West) and defeated Atiq Ahmed's younger brother. In the incident, two others, Devi Pal and Sandeep Yadav were also killed, and two more were seriously injured.
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The incident was reported at Dhoomanganj Police Station in Prayagraj by Pooja Pal, Raju Pal’s wife. The investigation was initially conducted by police and CBCID but was later taken over by the CBI on January 22, 2016, at the Supreme Court’s order.
Prayagraj Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma told reporters that Umesh Pal was attacked with crude bombs and shot outside his house. Two of his gunners who were deployed by the government for the MLA's security too were injured in the attack. One of them succumbed at the hospital.
The police said that eight teams have been formed to investigate every aspect of the incident and arrest those behind the attack. The main accused in the murder, Atiq Ahmed, is currently lodged in a Gujarat Jail.
(With PTI inputs)
