Vijay Chaudhary alias Usman, an accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, was killed in an encounter by a team of Prayagraj police in the early hours on Monday, reported PTI, citing officials.
The encounter took place at around 5:30 AM under the Kaundhiyara police station area of Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, said Dhumanganj Station House Officer (SHO) Rajesh Kumar Maurya.
The cop said that Usman was involved in the shooting of advocate Umesh Pal, key witness in the former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal murder case, and two of his police security guards on February 24 outside his home in Dhoomaganj area. In the murder case of the BSP MLA, mafioso-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother and former MLA Khalid Azeem aka Ashraf, besides many close aides, are the prime accused.
While Pal on the same day, the two other security guards died during treatment later.
Usman was a resident of Amokhar village in Kaundhiyara. The 27-year-old was rushed to the Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead, SRN Police outpost in-charge Sanjay Gupta, reported Hindustan Times.
Dr Badri Vishal Singh, Emergency Medical Officer, SRN Hospital said that Usman was shot and was declared brought dead.
Reacting to the encounter, BJP MLA Shalabh Mani Tripathi said, “Didn’t we say that we will destroy them!! Usman, the dreaded killer who fired the first shot at Umesh Pal and Sandeep Nishad, was also killed in a police encounter today.”
Gorakhpur MP Ravi Kishan tweeted, “Yogi Adityanath had said that they (mafia nexus) will be destroyed. The dreaded absconding killer Usman, who fired the first shot at Umesh Pal and Sandeep Nishad, was also killed in an encounter by the police today #up.”
Within 72 hours of Pal’s death, another accused named Mohammed Arbaaz, 22, who allegedly drove the SUV of the assailants, was killed in an encounter by Prayagraj police.