The central and state security agencies, including Anti-Terror Squads (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Gujarat, are now focusing on identifying people associated with the unnamed self-radicalised group allegedly behind the killing of Hindu Samaj Party (HSP) leader Kamlesh Tiwari, senior police officials privy to the investigation said.
The move comes as interrogation of the arrested accused suggested that over 50 people in Gujarat and Maharashtra were aware of the murder conspiracy, the officials added.
The agencies were alerted about the group and its countrywide network after the arrest of 12 people from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, the officials said.
“The main concern before internal security agencies is that the two residents of Surat, Gujarat, Ashfaq Sheikh Hussain and Moinuddin Khurshid Pathan, who executed Tiwari’s killing, got major support from people, who were even remotely associated with the group behind the murder conspiracy,” said a senior official of UP police associated with the investigation.
He said interrogation of the arrested accused by UP ATS and other agencies suggested that over 50 people in Gujarat and Maharashtra were aware of the conspiracy to murder Kamlesh Tiwari. The plot was allegedly hatched by a self-radicalised group prepared by Nagpur resident Sayyed Asim Ali, he said, adding that five people were arrested from Gujarat, including the two killers.
“The agencies are further exploring the network of the self-radicalised group and jotting down the names of people who were aware of the conspiracy and silently supported it without becoming part of the crime,” he said and added, “They all apparently feel justified about Tiwari’s killing as he often used to make statements against Muslims and their beliefs.”
{{/usCountry}}“The agencies are further exploring the network of the self-radicalised group and jotting down the names of people who were aware of the conspiracy and silently supported it without becoming part of the crime,” he said and added, “They all apparently feel justified about Tiwari’s killing as he often used to make statements against Muslims and their beliefs.”
{{/usCountry}}He said it was necessary to identify such silent supporters even if no legal action was initiated against them as they could be easily radicalised further and be made part of any other criminal or terror conspiracy in future.
“Out of 12 people arrested in the case, only six were part of the murder conspiracy while six others provided logistics and monetary support to the killers after coming to know about the murder of Tiwari,” he said.
“The trend suggested that the killers were readily accepted and supported by many others associated directly or indirectly with the self radicalised group behind the crime,” he added.
The official said the two killers, Ashfaq and Moinuddin, and three others— Maulana Mohsin Sheikh, Moinuddin’s brother Rashid Pathan and Faizan Sheikh, arrested from Surat, and a key conspirator Sayyed Asim Ali, arrested from Nagpur, were part of the murder conspiracy.
A Delhi-based lawyer, Mohd Naved Raza Siddiqui, his aide Kamran and a cleric Maulana Kaifi Ali, who were arrested from Bareilly and two people, Raees and Asif, arrested from Lakhimpur Kheri provided logistics and financial support when the two killers were on the run after the murder, he explained.
He said Fatehpur resident Mohd Yusuf, who was arrested from Kanpur on Friday, had delivered a 32 bore illegal pistol to the two killers in Surat, Gujarat, in return for money. He said Yusuf had a criminal background and had been involved in supplying firearms but was not aware of the murder conspiracy while delivering the pistol to the killers.
TWO MORE ARRESTS LIKELY
Two more arrests from Karnataka and UP are likely for providing logistics support to the two killers of Kamlesh Tiwari, said a senior police official.
The official said Karnataka resident Mohd Sadiq and one Tanveer, supposedly a Nepalese national, were also made accused in the case. He said Sadiq was in touch with the key conspirator Sayyed Asim Ali and helped him come in contact with the lawyer Naved to help the two killers hiding in Bareilly after committing Tiwari’s murder in Lucknow on October 18.
He said Tanveer, however, provided logistic support to the two killers during their stay in Nepal on October 20. The lawyer had roped in Tanveer to help the killers, he said.