Mohammad Arman, a member of slain gangster Atiq Ahmad’s gang wanted in the 2023 Umesh Pal murder case, was produced by the Uttar Pradesh Police before the sessions court in Prayagraj on Monday. He was brought from Gaya jail in Bihar on a transit remand under tight security.
Arman made a request for providing him a counsel, which the court accepted and later directed to send him back to Gaya jail. The trial of the Umesh Pal murder case is at present going on in Prayagraj’s sessions court. On a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal, a criminal case was registered at Dhoomanganj police station against Atiq Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Gulam, and nine others, including Arman. Subsequently, Atiq’s third son Asad, who was also an accused in the case, was killed in a police encounter.
The SC/ST sessions court accepted his transit remand and directed to produce him again after 14 days. After the murder of Umesh Pal on February 24, 2023, Arman surrendered before a Gaya court four days later in connection with an old criminal case. However, in Prayagraj, police announced a ₹ 5 lakh reward on his head and had been searching for him for three years unaware that Arman was already lodged in jail in neighbouring Bihar in another case. Umesh Pal, the main witness in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal, and his two security guards—Sandeep Nishad and Raghvendra Singh—were shot dead on February 24, 2023, outside Pal’s home in the Dhoomanganj police station area of Prayagraj. On April 15, 2023, Atiq and his brother Ashraf were also shot dead while being brought to Colvin hospital in Prayagraj in police custody for a routine medical check-up.
Manoj Pandey, the police had not moved any application for police custody remand of the accused, according to district government counsel (criminal).
Later, when the police came to know about his whereabouts, they moved a transit remand application before the Gaya court, which accepted it.
