Raju Pal murder case: CBI court sentences seventh accused for life imprisonment

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], April 5 : A special CBI court here on Thursday sentenced the seventh accused Israr Ahmed to life imprisonment in the high-profile Raju Pal murder case.
The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 1.9 lakh on accused Ahmed.
Ahmed had not appeared in the court on March 29 when the other six accused in the case namely, Abid, Farhan Ahmad, Javed, Gulhasan, Ranjeet Pal and Abdul Kavi were sentenced to life imprisonment along with a combined fine of Rs. 11.65 lakh.
A non-bailable warrant was issued against him and the argument on the quantum of sentence pertaining to him was deferred.
CBI had registered the case on 08.04.2016 on the orders passed by the Supreme Court on 22.01.2016 and had taken over the investigation of FIR No. 31/2005 earlier registered in Police Station Dhoomanganj, Allahabad (UP).
The directions of the apex Court came in CA No. 77/2016 arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 1458/2015 filed by the wife of the deceased, seeking a fair and expeditious trial.
The apex Court also directed the CBI to conduct a De Novo investigation in the case and also directed that the trial court conclude the trial expeditiously.
UP Police had registered the case against Ashraf and Atiq Ahmed and other unknown persons regarding the murder of Raju Pal, the then sitting MLA of UP Legislative Assembly and his two associates Devi Din Pal and Sandeep Yadav on 25.01.2005 in Police Station Dhoomanganj area.
It was alleged that on 25.01.2005 at around 3.00 PM when Raju Pal along with his associates was returning home, 7-8 persons had stopped his vehicle near Amit Deep Maruti Agency. It was also alleged that accused Ashraf and others fired and killed the victim. It was also alleged that the murder was committed at the behest of Atiq Ahmed, then Member of Lok Sabha. UP Police had filed a chargesheet in the case. Later on, the case was transferred to CB-CID, UP, which filed 03 supplementary chargesheets.
After conducting the De Novo investigation, CBI filed a chargesheet under sections 147, 148, 149, 302, 307, 120-B of IPC against 10 accused persons namely (i) Khalid Azim, (ii) Atiq Ahmad, (iii) Ranjeet Pal, (iv) Abid, (v) Farhan Ahmad, (vi) Israr Ahmad, (vii) Javed, (viii) Gulful @ Rafiq, (ix) Gulhasan and (x) Abdul Kavi. Accused Atiq Ahmad and Farhan Ahmad were also charge-sheeted under section 506 IPC and section 27 Arms Act, respectively. During committal proceedings, the accused Gulful alias Rafiq expired, therefore, his name was abated from the trial.
The Court framed the charges on 20.10.2022, against the nine accused. During the trial, the accused Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf expired, hence trial against them was abated.