On March 5, Uttar Pradesh police gunned down one of the accused in the Umesh Pal murder case. Identified as Usman Chowdhar alias Vijay Kumar, the accused was a member of the Atiq Ahmed gang and was the first to fire a shot at Pal. The encounter took place in the Kaundhiyara area of Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
Umesh Pal murder case | An encounter broke out between the Police and accused Vijay alias Usman in Kaundhiyara police station area in Prayagraj. Details awaited.
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) March 6, 2023
Latest visuals from the spot. #UttarPradesh pic.twitter.com/OUgX2u21Ba
As per reports, Usman sustained bullet injuries during the encounter. He was shifted to Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Reportedly, UP Police had announced a bounty of Rs 2.5 lakh for each accused in the murder case. Usman and other accused had allegedly killed Umesh Pal on February 24 in broad daylight. Pal was the prime witness in the 2005 BSL MLA Raju Pal murder case in which Atiq Ahmed and his brother ex-MLA Ashraf were prime accused. The incident took place at his residence.
मिट्टी में ढेर उमेश पाल व संदीप निषाद का हत्यारा उस्मान चौधरी !! pic.twitter.com/kG7fFcyjmU
— Dr. Shalabh Mani Tripathi (@shalabhmani) March 6, 2023
Earlier, another accused, identified as Arbas, was gunned down by the Special Operations Group of UP Police and the district police in an encounter at Nehru Park. Reportedly, the accused were prepared to flee Prayagraj after killing Umesh Pal. Two SUVs were on standby for their escape. One of the SUVs was caught on CCTV at Raebareli toll plaza around 8 PM on the day of the incident. The vehicle belonged to Nafees Ahmed, who the Police booked under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code. Nafees is a close aide of Atiq Ahmed’s brother Ashraf.
BJP MLA Shalabh Mani Tripathi said in a tweet, “We said we will deal with the culprits. Usman, the dreaded killer who fired the first shot at Umesh Pal and Sandeep Nishad killed in a police encounter today.”
Umesh Pal murder case
Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 murder case of BSP leader Raju Pal, was killed on February 24. Since then, at least ten teams of UP Police and other agencies have been carrying out raids at various places. Amid this, the Creta car used in Umesh Pal’s murder was recovered from Atiq Ahmed’s house. Atiq Ahmed is one of the accused in the Raju Pal murder case as well.
Raju Pal was murdered on January 26, 2005, after being elected as an MLA after defeating Atiq Ahmed’s brother Ashraf on a BSP ticket. In 2004, Atiq was elected MP from the Phoolpur constituency. Pal’s wife had accused Atiq, his brother and three more of murdering her husband.
Umesh Pal was one of the witnesses in the Raju Pal murder case. Seven shooters, of which two were from the Atiq gang, were allegedly involved in Umesh Pal murder last week. Atiq Ahmed is currently lodged in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati jail, where he is believed to have hatched the conspiracy.
