Lucknow, Nov. 3: An MP arrested for the murder of an MLA from an Assembly segment of his Lok Sabha constituency ? it’s the stuff of political vendetta stories.
And the plot in Allahabad West has turned out to be just that with the Bahujan Samaj Party losing its fourth functionary there in less than two years when Ram Vishal Pal was shot dead 50 yards from his home yesterday.
Police are worried that the war between the BSP and the ruling Samajwadi Party could take on a caste colour, with the Dalits lined up against an axis of Yadavs and Muslims.
The first shots in the battle were fired in January last year, when Raju Pal, the BSP’s Dhumanganj MLA, was gunned down by two attackers. Allahabad West’s Samajwadi MP, Atiq Ahmed, was arrested and later obtained bail.
Since then, three associates of Raju Pal have been murdered, with Ram Pal being the last. The BSP has tried to retaliate, but Samajwadi leader Suresh Yadav survived the assassins’ bullets on September 22 in Allahabad.
Alarmed Samajwadi workers have for some time been watching Allahabad slowly slip away from their grip. In last month’s panchayat polls, the BSP grabbed four out of every five block-level bodies across the district.
Ram Pal, the BSP’s poll manager in Dhumanganj, was called out of his house yesterday by two motorcycle-borne youths who offered to show him a plot of land he wanted to buy.
Once they reached the spot, the youths shot him from close range.
Adding to the tension, the police refused to hand the body over to BSP supporters fearing they might hit the streets with it. After a quick post-mortem, the slain leader was cremated this afternoon amid heavy police security.
“We are trying to find out if the victim had a criminal background and also whether political rivalry might have led to the killing,” said the Allahabad range deputy inspector-general of police, Akhilesh Mehrotra.
Ahmed has at least 30 cases pending against him. Chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has said he wouldn’t “believe” any of the charges against Ahmed till he is convicted of them.
