The police, on Monday, gunned down one of the criminals involved in the sensational killing of Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 murder of then Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Raju Pal, in an encounter here.
The accused was gunned down in retaliatory fire by the police after he opened fire on the cops. The exchange of fire continued for about 10 minutes.
The seriously injured Arbaaz received police bullets on his chest and leg. A police constable also sustained injury in the encounter. Two associates of Arbaaz, however, managed to escape.
“Arbaaz was accompanied by two or three other people who managed to escape from the spot. We are trying to track them,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Navendu Kumar said.
According to the DCP, Arbaaz, who was the driver of the white SUV used by the assailants to attack Umesh Pal, was surrounded by police teams following an intelligence input.
He opened fire on the police and was injured in the ensuing encounter in Nehru Park under Dhoomanganj police station at around 3 pm on Monday, Kumar said, adding that he was taken to SRN Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.
This is being termed as the beginning of police action in the Umesh Pal murder case.
Umesh Pal and his police security guard Sandeep Nishad were gunned down on February 24 near his house by over half a dozen shooters armed with automatic pistols and bombs. Another security personnel, Raghvendra Singh, who was injured in the attack, was admitted to SRN Hospital in a critical condition and was referred to Lucknow on Sunday.
The Special Task Force sniffed the whereabouts of some criminals involved in Umesh Pal’s murder and reached Nehru Park. The alert criminals immediately opened fire to escape but the police returned the fire, gunning down Arbaaz of Sallahpur under Puramufti police station of the district.
Arbaaz was driving the Creta of the assailants on Friday and was captured by the CCTV camera shooting bullets on Umesh Pal.
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 gangster-turned-politician Atique Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Gulam and nine others.
They have been booked under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 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, police said.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had vowed to destroy the mafias after the opposition Samajwadi Party had questioned the law and order situation in the state in the wake of the killing.
