After evading police for the last 48 days, two prime accused in the Umesh Pal murder case were gunned down by Uttar Pradesh STF on February 24.

Mafia don Atiq Ahmed’s third son Asad and a shooter, Gulam, were killed in an encounter in Paricha area of Jhansi on Thursday afternoon.

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The police had earlier announced Rs 5 lakh award on the heads of both the criminals.

Atiq fainted in the courtroom on hearing about the death of his son. He was brought to Prayagraj for hearing for his remand in the Umesh Pal murder case along with his brother Afzal. Later, the court allowed seven days police remand of both Atiq and Afzal in the case.

Hearing news of his son’s death in a police encounter, Atiq Ahmed broke down in the courtroom after. The distraught father, unable to control himself, sat on the ground crying bitterly.

Slogans of Yogi Adityanath Zindabad were raised by lawyers inside the court as news of the encounter came in.

Heavy sloganeering against Atiq by the lawyers was witnessed outside the CGM court when Atiq was produced before the court. Amid the sloganeering, someone threw a shoe at Atiq but he was not hit.

The body of Asad is likely to be brought to Prayagraj tomorrow and Atiq could seek parole to attend his funeral, sources said.

DG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar and ADG ( STF) Amitabh Yash informed the media that Asad and Gulam fired 40 rounds of bullets from their foreign-made pistols after they were surrounded by a 12-member STF team led by Deputy SP Nevendu and Deputy SP Vimal. They said a British Bulldog revolver was used by Asad and a Walther P-88 pistol was found with Ghulam. These were the same weapons used in the murder of Umesh Pal.

The encounter took place at Baragaon under Paricha dam police station area in Jhansi when the deceased were reportedly returning from Ajmer in Rajasthan.

There was a criminal case against Asad and six cases against Ghulam.

ADG STF Amitabh Yash said, “Today, after a lot of hard work, the STF team was successful in tracking down Asad and Ghulam. We already knew that they had modern weapons which is why we had already made all the preparations. Asad and Ghulam were the main shooters of this incident who have been killed in the encounter in Jhansi. The incident of their crime killing Umesh Pal was seen almost live by the entire country as CCTV footage was available”.

The police officers also did not rule out the duo trying to attack the police convoy accompanying Atiq from Sabarmati Jail to free the don. There was also a report of the police nabbing another shooter Guddu Muslim in Jalaun, also involved in the crime. But the police were tight lipped on it.

Five shooters were absconding after the murder of Umesh Pal in Prayagraj on February 24. Out of these, Asad and Ghulam were killed by the STF today. While the police killed Arbaaz in an encounter four days after the incident and on March 6, Usman alias Vijay Choydhury was killed in an encounter.

Six shooters, including Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad, were seen on CCTV firing bullets and bombs on Umesh Pal.  Umesh’s wife filed a report against Atiq, Ashraf, Shaista, Atiq’s son, Guddu Muslim, Usman and several unknown operatives and associates of Atiq.

A reward of Rs 5 lakh each was declared on Asad, Ghulam, Guddu Muslim, Sabir and Armaan.

Asad, who was killed in a police encounter in Jhansi, was Ahmed’s third son. His elder son Umar is lodged in Lucknow jail and second son Ali is in Naini jail. The minor fourth and fifth son are presently lodged in the Child Improvement Home Rajrooppur, Prayagraj.