Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Police STF on Thursday killed Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad and his close aide Ghulam in an encounter in Jhansi. Both were wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case of Prayagraj and carrying a reward of Rs five lakhs each.

The police said it has also recovered sophisticated foreign-made weapons from them

The police said it has also recovered sophisticated foreign-made weapons from them.

Visuals showed two bodies lying beside a motorbike at the site of the alleged encounter. An ambulance later took them away. Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 murder case of BSP MLA Raju Pal, and his two police security guards were shot dead outside his home in Prayagraj’s Dhoomanganj area on February 24 this year.

Based on a complaint by Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered at Dhoomanganj police station against Atiq Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine others.

The FIR was lodged under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. Ahmed is also an accused in the 2005 Raju Pal murder case.

Days after Umesh Pal’s murder, Uttar Pradesh Police had gunned down a 24-year-old Arbaaz wanted for his alleged role in the killing.

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya congratulated the Uttar Pradesh Police and the STF for the action. “Nobody will touch you if you don’t commit a crime. And nobody will be spared if they Commit a crime,” news agency PTI Maurya as saying. He said this was a BJP government and not an SP government that criminals would be spared.