MP’s brother plotted murder, trailed MLA

They also said that Ashraf, who has already been arrested in connection with the murder, was following Raju Pal in a car while they were waiting at the spot of the attack in a Tata Sumo. The Sumo and its driver were given to them by Ashraf two days before the attack, they said. They said Ashraf was constantly telling them about Raju Pal’s movements on the mobile phone and joined the attack after parking his car behind Raju Pal’s vehicle.

The last-minute twist to the case that the police claimed to have cracked this morning has left the force with two conflicting versions and has divided senior officers.

Before the press conference, the police said the murder was purely a fallout of the personal rivalry of the two accused with the MLA. ‘‘Both accused arrested today had previous enmity with the slain MLA and this is why they killed him. While Farhan’s father Anis Pehalwan was murdered by Raju Pal in 1999, both Ranjit and his brother Rakesh Pal had survived many murderous attacks by the MLA in the past,’’ SSP Allahabad Sunil Kumar Gupta told The Indian Express.

After the public confession, Gupta added that the role of Ashraf or his brother Atiq Ahmed was ‘‘still not substantiated and requires further interrogation of the accused.’’

But there was no confusion in the words of the accused. ‘‘We had to kill Raju Pal, Ashraf also wanted to kill him, so we joined hands and killed him,’’ said Ranjit Pal.

Even SP (Allahabad City) Rajesh Krishan stands by that. ‘‘Both wanted to kill Raju Pal for years. Ashraf Ahmed also had the same objective and so they joined hands but with no money changing hands. On December 28, on Ashraf’s directions, a similar attack was made on Pal in Newan village but he escaped. On January 25, they decided to leave nothing to chance,’’ said SP Krishan. Late at night, Krishan was transferred to the CB-CID in Allahabad.

Both Ashraf and Ranjit Pal were named in the FIR of the December 28 attack but were not arrested.

Ranjit Pal said Ashraf had given them a Tata Sumo and a driver two days before the January 25 attack. ‘‘We did not know the driver. On the day of the murder, we— Farhan, me, Aabid and Israr Ahmed and the driver—had been following Raju Pal since noon. Ashraf and some others were in a Santro and Ashraf was giving us details of Raju Pal’s movements on the cell phone,’’ says Ranjit Pal. ‘‘After waiting at three different places, we were finally told by Ashraf to wait near the Chapuat Ka on the GT road near the Sulen Sarai market in Dhumanganj. Around 3:15 pm, we got a call from Ashraf saying Pal was coming and directed us to open fire on his vehicle,’’ he added.

The Sumo blocked Raju Pal’s way and they opened fire. ‘‘The car carrying Ashraf stopped behind Raju Pal’s car and its occupants began firing as well. All of them were wearing masks and we do not know them. But Ashraf was among them,’’ said Ranjit Pal. Police say there were around 20 attackers.

First-time MLA Raju Pal, who has 26 cases of murder and robbery against his name, had been complaining about a threat to his life from Atiq Ahmed, the Samajwadi party MP from Phoolpur. The seeds of the rivalry were sown when Raju Pal scored a major upset by ending the 15-year-old reign of Atiq Ahmed from the Allahabad West by defeating his brother by over 5,000 votes. In fact, this was the fourth time he was attacked in Allahabad ever since he became the MLA.