A reward-carrying henchman of slain mafia don Atiq Ahmed was arrested by the Prayagraj Police here after a gunfire encounter on Wednesday night.

According to a statement issued by Prayagraj Police, two men drove through a police barricade during a check near the Anapur outpost of Nawabganj Police Station and opened fire at police.

Police in retaliatory fire shot one of them in the leg and apprehended him, while the other managed to escape, the statement read. The wounded man was admitted to a hospital for treatment.

During interrogation, the injured man revealed his name to be Mohammad Nafees alias Nafees Biryani, a key accused in the Umesh Pal murder case.

The Prayagraj Police had announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for any information leading to Nafees's arrest.

Umesh Pal, the main witness in the BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, was shot dead in broad daylight. The Hyundai Creta car used in the murder belonged to Mohammad Nafees, who had been absconding since the killing.

In April this year, Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead by two men posing as media persons when the two jailed criminals were being taken to a hospital in Prayagraj in police custody.

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