Atiq Ahmed won the Lok Sabha elections for this area’s Phulpur constituency in 2004, and his younger brother Ashraf ran as an independent on a Samajwadi Party ticket for the Allahabad West Assembly seat.
Ashraf expected to win, but the BSP’s inexperienced candidate Raju Pal shocked everyone by defeating him.
Atiq Ahmed was unable to accept his loss because it represented a threat to his own fief.
The electoral conflict developed into a political conflict, and on January 25, 2005, a day before Republic Day, as the BSP MLA was driving from Swaroop Rani Nehru hospital to his home in the Sulem Sarai neighbourhood of the city, Raju Pal was fatally shot by assailants who opened fire on his car.
Along with Raju Pal, two other victims of the attack were also slain, and according to the post-mortem report, Raju Pal’s body contained about 18 gunshots.
Ten people were accused in the event, including Atiq Ahmed and his younger brother, according to a CBI investigation.
Puja Pal, Raju Pal’s wife, who he had married just 11 days before he was killed, ran for office in Allahabad West but lost to Ashraf. She received a ticket from the BSP once more, and she won the 2007 Assembly elections.
Siddharth Nath Singh of the BJP defeated Puja in the 2017 Assembly elections, however Puja won the Chail seat in the elections of 2022.
Despite the best efforts of his brother, Ashraf’s political career stalled, and for this, he never forgave Raju Pal and his pals.
Raju Pal’s friend Umesh Pal was the primary eyewitness to the crime.
Umesh Pal was kidnapped in 2006 and coerced into testifying in court in Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf’s favour in the murder of Raju Pal because he refused to give in to Atiq Ahmed’s demands.
In the abduction case, Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were found guilty and given life sentences, one month after Umesh Pal was fatally shot in February of this year.
Umesh Pal’s stature rose independently during this time, and he no longer felt at ease trailing Puja Pal, the widow of Raju Pal.
According to sources, Umesh Pal was being accepted into the Karwariya camp.
Both former BJP MP Kapil Muni Karwariya and former MLA Uday Bhan Karwariya received life sentences for the murder of SP leader Jawahar Yadav.
When Neelam Karwariya, the wife of Uday Bhan, won the Meja seat in 2017 on a BJP ticket, Umesh Pal grew close to the family whose influence was expanding daily.
It’s interesting to note that some of Atiq Ahmed’s fans have also shifted their allegiance to the Karwariya family. Pictures of Ghulam Mohd, who was killed with Asad on Thursday, posing with Neelam Karwariya at her birthday celebration, are circulating on social media.
Puja Pal is shown in one video reprimanding Umesh Pal’s wife for “feeding parathas to those people despite my warning” after Umesh Pal was killed.
For some reason, the police chose not to look into this possibility.
According to sources in Prayagraj, Umesh Pal was assassinated because Atiq and the Karwariyas believed him of being loyal to both of them.
Puja Pal’s deliberate silence on the murder of Umesh Pal and its repercussions also leaves much to be spoken.
The truth may, however, “never be known” because Atiq Ahmed’s involvement in the murder is the main focus of the investigation.
