"The Bloody Fallout Behind Umesh Pal's Murder: A Narrative"
Prayagraj: It began with a defeat in an election, and the bruised egos had a bloody fallout.
In 2004, Atiq Ahmed emerged victorious in the Lok Sabha polls for Phulpur constituency.
Following this, his brother Ashraf decided to contest in the Allahabad West Assembly seat as a Samajwadi Party candidate.
This election was held after Atiq Ahmed resigned from his position to become an MP. Although Ashraf was expected to win, he surprisingly lost to Raju Pal, who was a novice candidate fielded by the BSP.
Atiq Ahmed was unable to accept his brother's defeat, as it posed a challenge to his own political stronghold.
This led to a political rivalry between the two parties. On January 25, 2005, the day before Republic Day, Raju Pal, the BSP MLA, was leaving Swaroop Rani Nehru hospital to return home.
While on the way in the Sulem Sarai area of the city, a car overtook his SUV and he was heavily shot by assailants, who opened fire on his vehicle. Two other individuals who were with Raju Pal were also killed in the attack. According to the post-mortem report, Raju Pal's body had around 18 bullets.
Following the incident, a CBI investigation was initiated, and 10 individuals, including Atiq Ahmed and his younger brother, were named as accused. Raju Pal's wife, Puja Pal, who had married him just 11 days prior to his murder, contested in the Allahabad West seat but lost to Ashraf.
Nevertheless, she was again given a ticket by the BSP in the 2007 Assembly elections, and she emerged victorious. In the 2017 Assembly polls, Puja lost to the BJP's Siddharth Nath Singh, but in the 2022 elections, she won from the Chail seat.
Despite his brother's best efforts, Ashraf's political career failed to take off. As a result, he held a grudge against Raju Pal and his friends.
Umesh Pal, an ally of Raju Pal, was the primary witness in the murder case. In 2006, Umesh Pal was abducted and coerced into providing a statement in court in favor of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf regarding Raju Pal's murder. However, Umesh Pal refused to give in to Atiq Ahmed's pressure.
Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were sentenced to life in prison in the abduction case a month after Umesh Pal was shot dead in February of this year. In the meantime, Umesh Pal's reputation grew independently, and he was no longer content to trail behind Raju Pal's widow, Puja Pal.
According to sources, Umesh Pal was gaining acceptance in the Karwariya camp. Kapil Muni Karwariya, a former BJP MP, and his brother Uday Bhan Karwariya, a former MLA, were both sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of SP leader Jawahar Yadav.
When Uday Bhan's wife, Neelam Karwariya, won the Meja seat on a BJP ticket in 2017, Umesh Pal befriended the family, whose influence was growing by the day. Intriguingly, a number of Atiq Ahmed's supporters also shifted their allegiance to the Karwariya family, and photos of Ghulam Mohd posing with Neelam Karwariya at her birthday party are circulating on social media.
After Umesh Pal's murder, one video shows Puja Pal scolding Umesh Pal's wife for "feeding parathas to those people despite my warning.
" The police, for some reason, did not pursue this angle. Prayagraj sources now claim that Umesh Pal was murdered because his loyalty was questioned - both to Atiq and to the Karwariyas. Puja Pal's calculated silence on the Umesh Pal murder and its consequences leaves much to be desired. However, since investigators are focusing solely on Atiq Ahmed's involvement in the murder, the truth may "never be revealed."
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