Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 murder case of BSP MLA Raju Pal, and his two police security guards were shot dead outside his home in Prayagraj's Dhoomanganj area on February 24 this year.?Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered on February 25 against Ahmed, Ashraf, their family members and others.

The killing of Asad came under criticism and revived the debate over encounter culture among India's police forcse and security services at large. Here's a look at India's most controversial encounter killings.?

Sidhu Moosewala's killers

Alleged killers of Sidhu Moosewala, gangsters Jagroop Singh Roopa and Manpreet Singh alias Mannu Kusa, were killed by the Punjab Police in Amritsar in an encounter that went on for around five hours in July of 2022.

While Punjab Police celebrated the encounter of the alleged killers, it evoked sharp opposition from Congress in Punjab?with state chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring stating that the police encounter?was not a?consolation for the family and his followers?as it would not bring Moosewala back.?

He also raised?several questions about the grave lapse on part of the government by?not providing the singer security despite a threat to his life.?

Gangster Vikas Dubey

Gangster Vikas Dubey was killed in an encounter in 2020?after a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he allegedly tried to escape from the spot in Bhauti area.

The encounter, which had multiple dubious aspects, led to various questions regarding the legality of the killing and an alleged nexus between Dubey and the police.?Prior to Dubey's encounter, five of his alleged associates?were killed in separate encounters.?Dubey was wanted in the?killing of eight policemen in Kanpur.

Accused in Hyderabad rape case

Four men who were accused of raping a 26-year-old veterinary doctor in 2019 were killed in an encounter with the Hyderabad police days after their arrest. The gang rape of the doctor on November 27 sent shockwaves across the country — she had been attacked by the men near a desolate toll plaza near Shamshabad on the city's outskirts and her burnt body was found at an underpass on the Hyderabad-Bangalore highway.

Within a day, the police had picked up two lorry drivers and their two workers — Mohammad Ali alias Mohammad Arif, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen Kumar and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu.?The local Cyberabad commissioner VC Sajjanar had claimed that the police?had taken the four men for a crime scene reconstruction when they were attacked, forcing the police to open fire.

A committee appointed by Supreme Court to probe the death of the accused stated that the cops “deliberately fired upon with in an intent to cause their death”.?The report has also said it believes the firing on the accused was done with knowledge that it would invariably result in death.?

Bhopal jail encounter

Eight undertrial prisoners who had fled from the Bhopal Central Jail were shot dead by police on October 31,?2016. The prisoners were members of the banned outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

The incident stirred a controversy as video clips, purportedly of the events, surfaced, and questions were raised about the breach of a high security prison under constant CCTV surveillance?and the encounter that took place at a hillock near the city. Opposition as well as the kin of the undertrials alleged foul play on part of the cops and called for an impartial inquiry by the CBI to ascertain the truth.

In June 2018, a judicial probe gave a clean chit to the police observing that the prisoners had fired at the police when asked to surrender.

Sadiq Jamal and Ishrat Jahan

Both Sadiq Jamal and Ishrat Jahan?were killed in 2003 and 2004 respectively after being suspected in alleged plans to kill then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Later, court and CBI investigations showed that both the killings may have been staged with the involvement of not only Gujarat Police but the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in the former.?

According to reports,?the CBI through its investigation found that?Jamal did not match the profile of reports of a plan to kill Modi and others, and his past criminal record only included an altercation in 1996 and arrest for gambling in 2002.?

Veerappan encounter

Once India's most wanted criminal,?Koose Munisamy Veerappan,?who along with his gang was accused of multiple kidnappings, smuggling, and wildlife poaching incidents, died in an encounter with?Tamil Nadu Special Task Force in October 2004.?

According to reports, STF fired 338 bullets at the ambulance, out of which three hit Veerappan. The gangster was on the run for nearly a decade before he was?caught by the authorities who?tricked him into entering an ambulance in which he needed to go see a doctor for his eye.

However, questions about a suspected 'cover-up' were raised after Veerappan was found to have bullet holes only in his head and eye but nowhere else in his body.?