By India Today News Desk: Slain gangster-politican Atiq Ahmed’s lawyer Khan Shoulat Hanif has been booked for criminal conspiracy in connection with the Umesh Pal murder case.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (City) Deepak Bhukar told news agency PTI that Hanif’s name was mentioned under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code to the FIR registered at Prayagraj’s Dhoomanganj police station in the Umesh Pal murder case.

“We came to know that Hanif shared pictures of Umesh Pal with Ahmed’s son Asad days before he was attacked,” Bhukar told PTI.

On April 13, Asad, who was Atiq Ahmed’s third son, was killed in a police encounter in Jhansi. Asad’s co-aide and shooter Ghulam was also killed in the operation.

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A remand application is likely to be filed by police in court to interrogate Hanif, who was, last month, sentenced to life imprisonment in the Umesh Pal kidnapping case. Hanif is imprisoned in Naini jail in Prayagraj.

On February 24, Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal, and his two security personnel were shot dead in Prayagraj. The next day, a police case was filed against Atiq, his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Ghulam and Guddu Muslim and nine others at Dhoomanganj police station.

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Hanif, along with Atiq and Dinesh Pasi, were convicted by a special court in Prayagraj on March 28 and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Umesh Pal kidnapping case.

On April 15, Atiq and his brother were shot dead at point-blank range by three assailants who posed as journalists. The brother duo was being taken by police for a medical check-up in Prayagraj when the shooters pumped them with bullets. The entire shooting was captured live on camera.

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(with inputs from PTI)