The Pals versus the Ahmeds — it is a political rivalry of the ages in Allahabad, long before the city came to be known as Prayagraj, not far from Mirzapur that was made famous by a web series.
The Ahmeds have been settling matters with the Pals invariably with bullets. 18 years ago, on a cold January day, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA from the Allahabad (West) seat, Raju Pal, was gunned down in broad daylight allegedly on the directions of the former legislator from the constituency, Atique Ahmed. The shooters were Atique’s brother Ashraf Ahmed and ten of the don-turned-politician’s henchmen. Raju Pal’s childhood friend Umesh Pal was with him and survived the shootout to become the main witness of the dastardly killing. Last week, he was shot dead allegedly by Atique’s men in a similar manner in Prayagraj, sending shockwaves through the state and the Yogi Adityanath government.
Umesh Pal’s killing happened despite him having two bodyguards from the Uttar Pradesh police, one of whom also succumbed to the bullets. It was also despite both Atique and Ashraf being behind bars — the former in Sabarmati jail in Gujarat and the latter in Bareilly jail of UP. Atique’s two sons are also in prison but his third son, Asad, is said to have led the shooters now. Amidst all this, the Central Bureau of Investigation has lost its prime witness in the Raju Pal trial against Atique and Ashraf, which could be a major blow to getting a conviction. The trial in the Raju Pal case has been going on at a snail’s pace even 18 years after the killing, with charges being framed in the local court only five months ago.
Election loss. Murder
The genesis of this rivalry between the two families dates back to 2004. This was when Atique Ahmed became an MP from Phulpur in Allahabad, after being an MLA from Allahabad (West) for 15 long years. Atique had a fiefdom from the seat and he fielded his brother Ashraf from there in a bypoll that year. But, to everyone’s shock, a novice in Raju Pal won the election on a BSP ticket. Atique was allegedly not able to digest the loss. On January 24, 2005, Allahabad reverberated with the sound of bullets, with the FIR saying Ashraf had shot Raju Pal in the head in a brazen killing. Some alleged that Atique had the blessings of the ruling Samajwadi Party then.
BSP chief Mayawati gave Raju Pal’s widow, Pooja Pal, a ticket in the next bypoll, but such was the influence of the Ahmeds that Ashraf won the election from jail. Atique got bail within a year of Raju Pal’s murder. Such was the brazenness that in 2006, Umesh Pal and four other key witnesses of Raju Pal’s murder were kidnapped before a judicial hearing and they told the court that the Ahmeds were not involved in the killing. They later lodged an FIR, saying they were threatened to say so. This kidnapping case was the one in which Umesh Pal was deposing before the court last week after which he was killed.
Fortunes changed for the Pal family after Mayawati came to power in UP in 2006. Pooja Pal won from the Allahabad (West) seat in 2007, defeating Ashraf, and again in 2012 beating Atique Ahmed. All this while, the threats to the witnesses continued and Pooja Pal says even she got them. Atique’s political fortunes nosedived though as he lost from the Shravasti Lok Sabha seat in 2014. Three years later, while Mulayam Singh Yadav announced a ticket for Atique Ahmed from Kanpur, Akhilesh refused, making him withdraw his candidature.
Fight till SC and Yogi’s crackdown
The Raju Pal case probed by the CB-CID of UP police seemed set for an acquittal before Umesh Pal decided to take the matter to the Supreme Court. In 2017, shocked by the events in the trial, the SC ordered the CBI to take over the matter. Atique’s bail was also cancelled. By this time, Yogi Adityanath had become the chief minister and he ordered a crackdown on Atique’s empire. Atique, Ashraf, and Atique’s two sons were jailed and his property worth Rs 1,200 crore was seized by the government in the last few years. There are presently 54 cases going on against Atique in courts. The CBI filed a chargesheet in the Raju Pal case finally in 2019 against Atique, Ashraf, and nine others.
“The crime was harrowing, alarmingly distressful and had sent shock waves among the living community, wrecking the temper and rhythm of social life and created a fear psychosis, a scary feeling of lack of security in all concerned,” the SC noted in its order in 2016, asking the CBI to take over.
Umesh Pal, who led the legal fight for justice for his childhood friend, met a similar scary end as Raju Pal on the streets of Prayagraj. “This was the last throw of the dice by a desperate Atique and Ashraf who hatched this conspiracy from jail. They may have very well dug their own graves with this one,” a top Uttar Pradesh official told News18 from Lucknow.
One of the alleged shooters has been eliminated by the UP police after CM Yogi Adityanath said in the state assembly last week that mafia like Atique “ko mitti mein mila denge” and the hunt is on for Atique’s third son, Asad, who is alleged to have led the shooters in the Umesh Pal case. Atique and Ashraf are set to be questioned in jail to establish the conspiracy.
Sources say CM Yogi Adityanath wants to “set an example” in the case to end the mafia war in UP for good. They point to how gangster Vikas Dubey met his end after the Kanpur incident in 2020 when he gunned down several policemen. But will Pooja Pal and Umesh Pal finally get justice?
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment