A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Lucknow on Friday convicted seven persons for the 2005 murder of former Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Raju Pal, reported PTI.

Pal, along with his associates Devilal Pal and Sandeep Yadav, were shot dead on January 25, 2005, in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj. The Central Bureau of Investigation had taken charge of the case in 2016.

The convicts – Farhaan Ahmad, Abdul Kavi, Ranjeet Pal, Israr Ahmad, Javed, Gulhasan and Abid – were found guilty under the Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting with an armed weapon), reported The Times of India.

“I am satisfied with the court’s decision,” Pal’s wife, Pooja Pal told PTI. “But these accused should have been given death sentence because an MLA was murdered in broad daylight.”

The police have alleged that Pal’s killing was planned by gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed after Pal defeated Atiq’s brother, Ashraf Ahmed, in the 2004 bye-poll to the Prayagraj West Assembly seat.

Pal had lost the seat to Atiq Ahmed in 2002. After Atiq vacated the seat in 2004, upon being elected to the Lok Sabha, Pal won it against his brother Ashraf in a bye-poll.

On April 15, Atiq and Ashraf Ahmed were shot dead in the presence of police officials as they were being taken for a medical check up to a hospital in Prayagraj. The proceedings against them in the case of Pal’s murder were subsequently abated.

The Ahmed brothers were in custody in connection with the murder of lawyer Umesh Pal, who was a witness in the 2005 Raju Pal murder case. Umesh Pal was shot dead in Prayagraj on February 24. Days later, the Uttar Pradesh Police booked Ahmed, his wife Sahista Parveen, two of their sons and Ashraf, among others, for Umesh Pal’s murder.

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