A man allegedly involved in the killing of a witness in a BSP MLA's murder case last month was shot dead in an encounter, Uttar Pradesh police said today.
According to police, Usman was one of the six shooters who pumped bullets into Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party legislator Raju Pal, on February 24. Two policemen on Umesh Pal's security duty, died of injuries later.
Shocking visuals of the killing captured by a CCTV camera went viral, prompting questions on the state's law and order situation.
Faced with tough questions from the Opposition on the daylight crime, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said that the government will crush those involved in the crime.
Referring to the Chief Minister's remark, Shalabh Mani Tripathi, BJP MLA and former advisor to the Chief Minister, tweeted in Hindi this morning, "We had said we would crush them. The man who fired the first bullet at Umesh Pal was shot dead in an encounter."
Dr Badri Vishal Singh, medical officer at a Prayagraj hospital, said Usman was brought in dead. "We performed the examination, following which he was declared dead and the body was sent to the mortuary. He was shot."
Umesh Pal was a key witness in the murder of Raju Pal, a BSP legislator murdered months after winning the Allahabad (West) Assembly seat by defeating former Samajwadi Party MP Atiq Ahmed's younger brother Khalid Azim.
Atiq Ahmed, his brother and former MLA Ashraf are accused in the Raju Pal murder case and are currently in jail.
Hitting back at the Opposition amid the uproar over Umesh Pal's murder, Chief Minister Adityanath had said that Atiq Ahmed was an MP from Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party and said his government would not allow "mafia raj" in the state.
Today's encounter was the first against the shooters involved in Umesh Pal's murder. Police had said the driver of the SUV used in the killing had been shot dead in an earlier encounter.
For the five other shooters, state police had earlier announced a reward of Rs 50,000. They have now raised it to Rs 2.5 lakh.
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