Etawah: Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati expressed disquiet Tuesday over recent police encounters in Uttar Pradesh, with Yadav saying that one of the sons of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed might also be gunned down soon.
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.
Speaking to reporters in Etawah’s Saifai, Yadav claimed, “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.”
“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.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati asked if the Uttar Pradesh government will follow the rule of law or eliminate criminals on the streets.
Without directly mentioning the encounters, Mayawati said, “The police action which has come before the public following the killing of Umesh Pal in Prayagraj has raised suspicion among people if the government will conduct another ‘Vikas Dubey episode’ to cover up its failures.”
Vikas Dubey, a Kanpur gangster, was shot dead in an encounter in 2020.
In another tweet in Hindi, the BSP chief said, “The UP government is under a lot of tension and pressure, especially regarding the law and order situation after the murder of Umesh Pal, the witness in the Raju Pal murder case.”
But the entire country is watching if the government will follow the rule of law to control crime or punish the criminals by eliminating them on the streets, she added.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, however, said the police action in the Umesh Pal murder case is praiseworthy and it is wrong to raise questions over it.
“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 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.
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