BSP MLA Raju Pal murder: CBI indicts Atiq Ahmad, brother and 9 others in the case

The CBI on Tuesday filed a charge sheet in a special court here indicting former SP MP Atiq Ahmad, his ex-MLA brother Ashraf Ahmad and eight others in the 2005 murder of BSP's Allahabad MLA Raju Pal and two others. Special Judicial Magistrate Anuradha Shukla put the chargesheet on court records and fixed August 30 for taking cognizance of it.

The eight others who have been indicted for their roles in the case are Ranjeet Pal, Abid, Farhan Ahmad, Israr Ahmad, Javed, Rafiq Ahmad alias Gulful, Gulhasan and Abdul Kavi. Abdul Kavi's name figured in the chrgesheet's absconders' list.

The incident dates back to January 25, 2005 when a convoy of the BSP MLA Raju Pal was attacked by gun-wielding miscreants in broad day light on GT Road near Sulemsarai in Allahabad. The miscreants opened indiscriminate firing, killing the MLA and his two associates, Devi Pal and Santosh Yadav and seriously injuring two others.

The CBI chargesheet has indicted the ten for the penal offenses of murder, attempt to murder and hatching the criminal conspiracy to commit these offenses. The FIR in the case was initially registered at Dhumanganj police station in Allahabad on the complaint of Raju Pal's wife Pooja Pal, who had also named Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf Ahmad alias Khalid Adim, accusing them of being involved in the murders.

The probe was conducted earlier by the Allahabad police, which filed the police report in the case without indicting Atiq Ahmad and his brother. The probe was later on December 12, 2008 transferred to the CB-CID, which filed three supplementary chargesheets in the case but did not name Atiq Ahmad and his brother as accused.

Pooja Pal subsequently moved the Supreme Court, protesting against the chargesheet giving clean chit to the two bothers. On Pooja Pal's petition, the Supreme Court transferred the probe to the CBI on January 22, 2016. The CBI concluded the probe and submitted its chargesheet in the case on Tuesday to the Lucknow Special CBI court.

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