By IANS
New Delhi : After evading arrest for eight long months, Lok Sabha MP Atiq Ahmed has been arrested in connection with the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator Raju Pal in Allahabad.
The expelled Samajwadi Party MP from Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh was arrested from Pitampura in west Delhi late Thursday and will be produced in the Tis Hazari court later Friday, Delhi Police sources said.
The Mayawati government issued a non-bailable warrant against him in May 2007. The Samajwadi Party expelled him soon after the Uttar Pradesh Police released his sketches in the murder case.
The murder was said to be a fallout of Raju Pal’s rivalry with Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Azeem. Pal was shot dead in broad daylight in Allahabad Jan 26, 2005 while he was on his way to his village to participate in the Republic Day function. Azeem was named the main accused in the case.
Mayawati had demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the case and accused the Congress of patronising Ahmed. The MP, on the other hand, has claimed that the Uttar Pradesh Police were conspiring to kill him.
Ahmed, who has 13 criminal cases pending against him and had a cash reward of Rs. 20,000 on his head, has denied involvement in Pal’s murder.