The Samajwadi Party on Thursday expelled a Member of the Legislative Assembly, Pooja Pal, for anti-party activities and indiscipline after she appreciated UP CM Yogi Adityanath for action against former MP and gangster Atiq Ahmed.

Pooja Pal, who represents the Samajwadi Party from the assembly constituency Kaushambi, had praised Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday for bringing a zero-tolerance policy, which led to the ‘killing of criminals like Atiq Ahmed’. 

Pal, whose husband and former BSP legislator Raju Pal was shot dead by Atiq Ahmed, credited the Yogi government with ‘bringing her justice’ through a zero-tolerance policy. 

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Pooja Pal was speaking during the 24-hour marathon discussion on Vision Document 2047 in the state Assembly, where she said, “Everyone knows who murdered my husband. The Chief Minister heard me when no one else did. His zero-tolerance policy led to the killing of criminals like Atiq Ahmed. Today, the entire state looks at him with trust.”

In a remark in Hindi, Pal said,  “Mere pati ke hatyare Atiq Ahmed ko Mukhya Mantri ne mitti mein milaane ka kaam kiya” (The Chief Minister buried my husband’s murderer, Atiq Ahmed). 

Raju Pal, a BSP MLA, was shot dead in Prayagraj in January 2005, just days after his wedding. Years later, Umesh Pal, a key witness in the case, was killed in a brazen daylight attack in Prayagraj's Sulem Saray area in February 2023. Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf, the prime accused in the case, were arrested but met a grisly end on April 15, 2023, when they were shot dead at close range by assailants posing as journalists while being taken for a medical check-up in Prayagraj.