PRAYAGRAJ, June 10 -- The Allahabad high court has granted bail to Abid, a convicted accused in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, suspending his sentence pending the disposal of his criminal appeal. A division bench comprising Justice Siddharth and Justice Vinay Kumar Dwivedi observed that the criminal appeal, pending since 2024, was unlikely to be heard in the near future. The court, therefore, held that the convict could be released on bail until a final decision is taken on the appeal. The counsel for Abid argued that his name did not figure in the original FIR and that action against him was initiated solely on the basis of statements made by co-accused. The court observed in its May 29 order, "When the testimony of the witnesses were recorded, pursuant to the charge-sheet filed by the local police, none of the alleged eye witnesses have identified the appellant to be amongst the assailants and subsequently on the basis of the charge-sheet which had been filed by the C.B.I. in the trial, these witnesses have made a somersault from their previous testimony and they have subsequently identified the appellant as one of the assailants, after such a considerable delay in the trial and this vital aspect has been completely ignored by the trial court, while, illegally recording the finding of conviction, as against the appellant." "There is no test identification parade which has been conducted by the prosecution during investigation at any stage and considering that the appellant was not named in the first of information report and his name has only featured on the basis of the statement of co-accused persons," it observed....