Umesh Pal’s Killer Shot Dead in Encounter in UP

Lucknow: Vijay Kumar, the hired killer of the Atiq Ahmed gang, who was the first to open fire at Umesh Pal was shot dead in an encounter in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj. The exchange of fire between the slain accused also called Usman Chowdhary and the police occurred in the Kaundhiyara area of Prayagraj on Sunday evening.

Accused Vijay Kumar was seriously injured. He was admitted in Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital in Civil Lines, Prayagraj, where he was declared brought dead.

This encounter took place a day after the UP Police announced a 2.5-lakh reward for each accused in the Umesh Pal murder case. But the reward on Vijay Kumar’s head was Rs 50,000 as he was not named in the FIR.

Vijay Kumar alias Usman Chowdhary, along with some others shot dead Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case. This murder took place over a week back at Umesh Pal’s residence in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj.

Raju Pal was murdered months after winning the Allahabad (West) assembly seat in his electoral debut by defeating Former MP Atiq Ahmed’s younger brother Khalid Azim. Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, his brother and ex-MLA Ashraf are prime accused in the Raju Pal murder case.

A week ago, another accused, Arbaz, was shot dead by the Special Operations Group of the Uttar Pradesh Police and the district police during an encounter at the Nehru Park in Prayagraj.