On Thursday, hours after the Uttar Pradesh Police STF killed Asad Ahmed, son of gangster turned politician Atiq Ahmed and Ghulam Muhammad, both accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, the Samajwadi Party (SP) slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and claimed that the recently announced police encounters were fake.
Asad Ahmed and Gulam Muhammad, both wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case were killed in a police encounter at Jhansi today. In the CCTV footage of Umesh Pal’s murder, Asad Pal was seen chasing and attacking Pal with a pistol. Ghulam Muhammad, son of Maksudan, was a gunman who fired shots during the Umesh Pal murder.
Asad, son of mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and Ghulam S/o Maksudan, both wanted in Umesh Pal murder case of Prayagraj and carrying a reward of Rupees five lakhs each; killed in encounter with the UPSTF team led by DySP Navendu and DySP Vimal at Jhansi. Sophisticated foreign… pic.twitter.com/dAIS6iMM3G
— ANI (@ANI) April 13, 2023
SP’s Akhilesh Yadav meanwhile claimed that this encounter along and all recently announced encounters were fake and that the BJP was trying to divert the public attention from real problems by executing fake encounters. He also demanded an investigation into the case and said that the culprits should not be spared.
“By doing false encounters, the BJP government is trying to divert attention from the real issues. The BJP does not believe in the court at all. Today’s and recent encounters should also be thoroughly investigated and the culprits should not be spared. The government does not have the right to decide what is right or wrong. BJP is against brotherhood,” he tweeted.
As per reports, Asad and Ghulam were constantly moving around to avoid capture by police and had reached Jhansi to meet someone, in preparation for leaving the state. UPSTF received information about the same and launched an operation. They had been tracking the two for 3 days before they were encountered today.
Reportedly, the UP STF has launched another massive encounter to nab Guddu Muslim, another accused named in the Umesh Pal murder case. Guddu has worked for several dons including Mukhtar Ansari, Abhay Singh, and Dhananjay Singh. He had spent the last ten years working with Atiq Ahmed. The accused is said to have hurled crude bombs in February’s shootout where Umesh Pal was shot dead. CCTV footage captured Guddu Muslim hurling crude bombs at Pal and his police gunners.
On the basis of a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered against Atiq Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Gulam and nine others.
The Police earlier killed one of the prime accused, shooter, Mohammad Arbaaz, 24, in an encounter in Prayagraj, three days after the murder. The Uttar Pradesh STF team led by Dy SP Navendu and Dy SP Vimal at Jhansi confirmed the encounters meawhile and said that sophisticated foreign made weapons were also recovered from the spot after the encounter.
Earlier, UP CM Yogi Adityanath had said that SP was harbouring criminals and mafia in the state. As the key accused in the Raju Pal murder case are SP leaders, CM Yogi Adityanath accused the party of patronising criminals, evoking a strong reaction from Akhilesh Yadav on February 23.
Further talking about the Umesh Pal murder, the CM had asked, ‘these criminals and these mafias, after all, who harboured them? Is it not true that the mafia against whom the FIR was filed by the victim’s family was made MP by Samajwadi Party?’
Also, OP Singh, the former DGP of UP Police had stated that he could have ended the terror of gangster mafia Atiq Ahmed long back, however, he could not do so due the political pressure imposed upon him back then. He said that he had an opportunity and that he wanted to arrest Ahmed and his gang in 1989–1990 but was ordered to make no arrests. Though Singh avoided to take direct names in the case, it is pertinent to note that during the time period mentioned by the former UP Police DGP, Mulayam Singh Yadav was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
