Key Points
A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Lucknow on Friday convicted seven men for the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) lawmaker Raju Pal in 2005 and sentenced six of them to life imprisonment, drawing the curtain on a sensational daylight killing that came to exemplify the influence that strongmen and criminals once held on the politics of Indias most-populous state.I)..
Additional district judge Kavita Mishra, who was presiding over the special CBI court, convicted Abid Pradhan, Javed (who also goes by Bachau and Shamsul Haq), Ranjeet Pal, Abdul Kavi, Gulhasan, Mohammed Farhan and Israr Ahmed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 120B (criminal conspiracy), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting by using weapon), 149 (committing crime for a common object), 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder)..
Raju Pal was gunned down outside his house on January 25, 2005 in Prayagraj as a result of political rivalry with Atiq Ahmads brother Ashraf, whom he had defeated in the 2004 bypoll to the Allahabad West assembly seat..
The brazen murder of the lawmaker sparked sweeping outrage and forced the then Samajwadi Party state government to move against Atiq a former five-time state legislator and former Lok Sabha member who had 100 cases against him and charge him with murder..
The Raju Pal murder case again jumped into spotlight after advocate Umesh Pal, who was a witness in the 2005 case, was killed outside his home in Prayagraj by armed men who opened fire on the lawyer and his two police guards on February 24, 2023..
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