Criminals belonging to Yogi's caste 'still alive': Samajwadi Party

The Samajwadi Party on Friday came up with a list of alleged criminals claiming that they are 'still alive, committing crime and running gangs' as they all belong to the same caste as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The SP also alleged that it was the BJP people who got Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 killing of then Bahujan Samaj Party legislator Raju Pal, murdered.

In a tweet in Hindi, the media cell of the Samajwadi Party, said, 'The murder of Umesh Pal has been done by the BJP people. The BJP may have got an immediate opportunity to polarise the votes in the (ongoing) urban local bodies' elections and to (indulge in) communal frenzy, on the pretext of this murder. But, any BJP leader, no matter how big he is, will not be spared.'

The SP 'list' comes a day after gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad's son Asad and his accomplice, accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, were gunned down in a shootout with the Uttar Pradesh Police, which the party alleged was a fake encounter.

The list of alleged criminals with a claimed number of cases includes names of Kuldeep Singh Sengar (Unnao, 28 cases), Brijesh Singh (Varanasi, 106 cases), Dhananjay Singh (Jaunpur, 46 cases), Raja Bhaiyya (Raghuraj Pratap Singh) (Pratapgarh, 31 cases), among others.

Referring to the list, the media cell of the Samajwadi Party, in a tweet in Hindi, said, "Are they special to Yogi? Actually, they all belong to the same caste as that of Yogi, hence, they are still alive, committing crime, running the gangs and indulging in murder, rape, loot, dacoity and extortion."

The party also added a note in the tweet saying the list is 'old, but most of the criminals in it are BJP-supported and are active'.

In another tweet, the SP's media cell said that the alleged encounter will be probed one day and the truth will be revealed.

The party also referred to the allegation made by Atiq Ahmad's sister Ayesha Noori last month that Prayagraj Mayor Abhilasha Gupta Nandi had conspired to kill Umesh Pal.

According to the allegation, this was done so that the gagster-politician's wife Shaista Parveen would not be able to contest the next mayoral election.

Reacting to the allegations levelled on him, Nandi in a tweet in Hindi had said, 'The baseless allegations are only an unsuccessful attempt to divert attention from the main issue and mislead....Linking this with the mayoral elections is not only irrelevant but also laughable.'

In another tweet, the SP said, 'Yogi Adityanath was very happy with Atiq Ahmad in the Phulpur Lok Sabha by-election (in 2018). Atiq was helping the BJP and the party was helping him.'

'A minister in the Yogi government borrowed money from Atiq's family and to do away with him, Nand Gopal Gupta 'Nandi' took the support of the government in a bid to grab the borrowed money/partnership,' the tweet read.

Umesh Pal and his two police security guards were shot dead on February 24 outside his home in Prayagraj's Dhoomanganj.

Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered on February 25 against Atiq Ahmad, his brother Ashraf, Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine others.

On March 28, an MP/MLA court held Atiq Ahmad and two others guilty in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

That was Ahmad's first conviction even though more than 100 cases have been registered against him.

The 60-year-old former Samajwadi Party MP was brought from Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat by road for a hearing in the case in Prayagraj.

In 2006, Atiq Ahmad and his aides abducted Umesh Pal and forced him to give a statement in court in their favour. Umesh Pal had registered a complaint in this regard.