The UP Police said an accused in the sensational Umesh Pal murder case was killed in police encounter on Monday. Vijay alias Usman was shot dead by a Prayagraj police team in the early hours of Monday.
Usman was caught on camera firing at Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 former BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case. Dhumanganj Station House Officer (SHO) Rajesh Kumar Maurya told PTI that the encounter took place in Kaundhiyara police station area around 5.30 am.
Umesh Pal was the key witness in the former BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case. He along with his police security guards Sandeep Nishad and Raghvendra Singh were shot on February 24 outside his home in the Dhoomanganj area. While Pal died the same day, the security personnel died later during treatment.
Some days later, Arbaz, who allegedly drove the SUV of the assailants, was killed in an encounter with the police in Prayagraj.
The encounter comes a day after the Uttar Pradesh Police announced a reward of Rs 2.5 lakh each for giving information about the five people, including gangster and former MP Atiq Ahmad's son Asad, allegedly involved in the killing of Umesh Pal.
Besides Asad, the other four accused are Gulam, Guddu and Sabir, a senior official said. Atiq Ahmed is the prime accused in the Raju Pal murder case and is currently lodged in a Gujarat jail.
According to Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal, her husband was the prime witness in the Raju Pal murder case. In 2006, Atiq Ahmed and his aides abducted him and forced him to give a statement in court in their favour. Umesh Pal had registered a complaint in this regard, and the case was ongoing. On February 24, there was a hearing in the matter for which Umesh Pal, his nephew and two security personnel Sandeep Nishad and Raghvendra Singh went to court.
