Ex-Samajwadi Party MP arrested for killing rival in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur

Allegedly to eliminate competition, a former Samajwadi Party (SP) MP got the rival ticket aspirant from his own party killed in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district, about 250 kilometres from here,

Police on Monday arrested ex-SP MP Rizvan Zaheer, his daughter Zeba and her husband on charges of hatching a conspiracy to kill one Firoz alia Pappu, a former Nagar Panchayat chairman, and a senior district leader of the party.

District police chief Hemant Kutiyal said that Firoz was a strong contender for the party nomination from the Tulsipur assembly seat in the district. Rizvan was, however, trying to secure the SP nomination for his daughter Zeba.

He said that Firoz was killed on January four when he had gone out to meet someone with a friend of his. Police later arrested two people, identified as Merazul and Mehfooz, who during questioning, revealed that they were hired by Rizvan to eliminate Firoz.

Police said that Rizvan had been conspiring to kill Firoz for the past several days but his hired goons failed to execute the plan owing to one reason or the other. ''On January four they got the chance....as Firoz came out of his house and reached a narrow lane, the killers, who were waiting in the dark, pounced on him and attacked him with knives killing him on the spot....they had got the street lights switched off so that Firoz could not see them,'' the official said.

He said that Firoz had emerged as a strong rival to Rizvan Zaheer, who had been a three-time MLA and two time MP, and was a strong contender for the SP ticket from the constituency. His wife was currently the chairperson of Tulsipur Nagar Panchayat.

SP sources said that both Firoz and Rizvan had visited the party headquarters in the state capital a few days back. While Firoz wanted to contest the polls himself, Rizvan wanted the SP nomination for his daughter.

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