Police will kill one of Atiq Ahmed’s sons in fake encounter: SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav
Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav on Tuesday expressed apprehension that the police would kill one of the sons of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed in a fake encounter in the coming days in connection with the Umesh Pal murder case.
Unable to find the real culprits, police are “under pressure from the top to kill whoever they find”, the SP national general secretary told reporters in Saifai here.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya hit out at Yadav over his “irresponsible” statement and said the SP’s real character is to give patronage to criminals.
Two men allegedly linked to the murder of Umesh Pal, the key witness in the 2005 murder case of former BSP MLA Raju Pal, have been killed in two police encounters in the last 10 days.
Umesh Pal and his police security guards Sandeep Nishad and Raghvendra Singh were shot dead on February 24 outside his home in Prayagraj’s Dhoomanganj.
Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered at Dhoomanganj police station against Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine others.
“There is pressure on the police from the top to kill whoever they find. Whoever gets caught will be killed. Both sons of Atiq Ahmed were caught by the police on the very first day. One of them will be killed in the coming days… You all will see,” Yadav claimed.
“When our Constitution gives a man the fundamental right to live, then you cannot take someone’s life. There is no other way than the legal way. Those who carry out fake encounters are booked for murder,” he said.
Two other accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, Arbaaz and Vijay Chowdhary alias Usman, were killed in encounters with the police on February 27 and March 6 respectively.
Maurya targeted Yadav for speaking in favour of Umesh Pal’s murderers.
“The statement given by Professor Ram Gopal Yadav ji in favour of the murderers of Umesh Pal and the security personnel is an irresponsible one. The SP’s real character is to give patronage to criminals and increase their confidence.
“This is the beginning of the dirty politics of Muslim appeasement. The action taken by the police in this case is praiseworthy, and it is wrong to raise questions over it,” the deputy chief minister said in a tweet in Hindi.
On Monday, Ahmed’s family held a press conference in Prayagraj on Monday and expressed apprehension that he, his brothers and sons would be killed in a fake encounter by the police and requested Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for help.
There are reports that Ahmed, who is currently lodged in a Gujarat jail, will be brought to Uttar Pradesh for the investigation into the Umesh Pal murder case.
