Prayagraj Daylight Murder: CBI found Umesh Pal ‘unreliable’, dropped him as witness in murder case

A CBI official said that Umesh Pal, 48, was listed as a witness by the UP Police during their investigation in the Raju Pal murder case. But when the CBI took over the probe in 2016, the agency found him “unreliable” and did not enlist him as a prosecution witness.

“The CBI did not make Umesh Pal a witness in the Raju Pal murder case as the probe agency did not find him reliable,” the CBI official said.

Raju Pal’s wife Pooja Pal, who is currently an SP MLA from Chail, also told The Indian Express that Umesh Pal was declared hostile during the murder trial at a Prayagraj court in 2006.

After Raju Pal was shot dead along with his two associates in Prayagraj on January 25, 2005, police had registered an FIR against Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf on a complaint lodged by Pooja Pal. Pooja, who got married to Raju just nine days before his murder, had named Atiq, Ashraf and seven unidentified persons in her complaint.

Prayagraj police filed a chargesheet against 10 people, including Atiq and Ashraf, at a local court on April 6, 2005. In the trial, Umesh Pal reportedly became a hostile witness.

“I moved the Allahabad High Court and later Supreme Court, seeking a CBI probe into the murder case because some of the prosecution witnesses had turned hostile and were not supporting the police theory. Umesh Pal was also declared a hostile witness,” Pooja Pal said.

According to Pooja Pal, Umesh after turning hostile claimed that he changed his statement in the court because Atiq and his associates had abducted and threatened him.

In 2007, after BSP came to power in the state, Umesh filed a case of kidnapping against Atiq. The trial in that case is currently going on at a Prayagraj court and is in the final stage, according to Prayagraj district government counsel Ghulab Chand Agnihotri.

In December 2008, the state government, then led by BSP chief Mayawati, transferred the investigation to the Crime Branch (CB-CID) of the UP Police. In its chargesheet, the CB-CID named seven more people as accused.

After almost six years in 2014, the Allahabad High Court dismissed a petition filed by Pooja Pal seeking a CBI probe into the murder of her husband. She then moved Supreme Court for a CBI investigation.

After the Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe, the investigation was transferred to the central agency on January 22, 2016. In August 2019, the CBI filed a chargesheet against 10 people, including Atiq Ahmed and Ahsraf.

A senior lawyer associated with the Raju Pal murder case said the CBI did not specify the names of witnesses in its chargesheet as well as in the case diary. “It appears from the chargesheet that Umesh Pal was not made witness by the CBI. I have also come to know that he was not made a witness,” the lawyer added.

Following Umesh Pal’s murder on February 24 this year, Prayagraj police booked Atiq Ahmed, his wife Shaista Parveen, brother Ashraf, his two sons and two others.

Police maintained that prime facie it appeared that Umesh Pal was killed by Atiq Ahmed’s associates and family members to scare the witnesses.

However, a senior police officer involved in the probe said: “We are yet to find out the exact reason behind Umesh Pal’s killing. Several persons are being interrogated and the investigation is on. We cannot share the details of the investigation.”

Till now, police claimed to have killed two persons linked to Umesh Pal’s murder in separate encounters in Prayagraj. One person has been arrested and six accused, including Shaista Parveen, are on the run. While Atiq is lodged in a jail in Gujarat, Ashraf is in Bareilly jail.