Prayagraj murder: All rooms of hostel where accused lived, now sealed

Prayagraj, March 7

All the 107 rooms of the Muslim Boarding House (MBH), have been sealed by teams of police and district administration after the arrested of a LL.B student, Sadaqat Khan, in connection with the murder of Umesh Pal and his two security guards in Prayagraj on February 24.

MBH was in news after police arrested Sadaqat.

MBH that belongs to a trust called Muslim Literary Association, mostly houses Allahabad University (AU) students.

Officials said Sadaqat was an illegal inmate of MBH and had forcefully occupied room number 36.

"He was earlier removed from the hostel and his room was locked. However, after few days he reoccupied the room after breaking the lock," said MBH superintendent Irfan Ahmed Khan.

Sadaqat had suffered injuries while trying to escape from police custody on February 27. This had happened when he was taken to his hostel room as part of the police investigation.

He was later admitted to a hospital while the police seized a pistol and few live bullets from his room.

MBH secretary and city businessman, Barkat Ali, said: "We had met the district and police administration a couple of days back and requested them to remove all those staying illegally."

"The MBH inmates were informed on Sunday that they had to vacate their rooms by Monday noon. The action (sealing of hostel) is a result of our request," said Khan who confirmed that all 107 MBH rooms had been sealed.

Around half a dozen inmates who were present in MBH when the police arrived were asked to vacate rooms. The hostel was sealed in the presence of select AU faculty including proctor Prof Harsh Kumar.

The belongings of those who were not present however were not removed from their rooms.

"How can we just throw away the belongings of inmates? They were asked to vacate the room today and come again after Eid (April 23). We will verify the documents of each student," said Khan.