The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh and the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party member of Legislative Assembly Raju Pal.
The notices were issued on a petition filed by Pal's wife Pooja Pal seeking a probe into the case by an independent agency.
A Bench, comprising Justice N Santosh Hegde and Justice S B Sinha, also issued notices to Samajwadi Party member of Parliament Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed, who has been arrested by the police on charge of murder, when the petition was mentioned before it.
The petitioner cited threat to her life as well as to Raju's mother from the ruling party and sought protection. The court directed the Uttar Pradesh police to provide security to the two.
The petitioner alleged that it was a political murder carried out at the behest of the Samajwadi Party and claimed that the investigation carried out so far by the state police had not been fair and impartial.
Raju Pal, the controversial BSP MLA from Allahabad West constituency, and two others were shot dead and his wife and another person seriously injured by unidentified assailants in Allahabad on January 25.
BSP chief Mayawati had accused the CM of orchestrating the murder and demanded a CBI probe into the matter.