Amravati MP Navneet Rana's fresh attack over chemist's killing: 'Why did...'

Umesh Prahladrao Kolhe,54, who ran a medical shop in Amravati, was stabbed in the neck by assailants who rode a motorbike when he was returning home on his two-wheeler from work.

A day after raising allegations against the city police commissioner for trying to “suppress” the case, Amravati MP Navneet Rana on Sunday once again attacked the top cop and demanded to know why she tried to “hide” the matter. "When central team reached, CP Arti Singh, after 12 days, finally expressed that this is because of his Nupur Sharma post. So I've demanded an enquiry on CP too as to why she hid actual matter & threatened journalists to not expose the truth," she was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. “We spoke with cops, they said it looks like incident of theft. We spoke with family, this did not look like theft, as nothing had been taken. When we spoke on this, wrote letters to NIA & HM, enquiry began,” she added.

Amravati MP Navneet Rana, (PTI file photo)

On Saturday, Navneet Rana had alleged that the police commissioner, Dr Aarti Singh, tried to suppress the case and called for an inquiry into the matter.

Umesh Prahladrao Kolhe, 54, who ran a medical shop in Amravati, was stabbed in the neck by assailants who rode a motorbike when he was returning home on his two-wheeler from work. The incident had taken place near Ghantaghar in the Shyam Chowk area of Amravati on June 21.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Rana said: “We wrote a letter to union home minister Amit Shah, and he took action by sending the NIA. After 12 days Amravati CP came in front of the media, and said that the case is similar to the Udaipur murder, and is related to content posted about Nupur Sharma. After 12 days she's giving clarification on the incident. She first said that it's robbery and tried to suppress the case. Enquiry must also be done against Amravati CP,” she added.

Irfan Khan (32), a local resident, was arrested from Nagpur on Saturday. The police commissioner said Khan had allegedly hatched the conspiracy to murder Kolhe and also roped in others.

The home ministry spokesperson in a tweet on Saturday informed the probe has been handed over to the NIA.

Kolhe's killing had taken place a week before a tailor in Rajasthan's Udaipur was murdered by two men who later posted videos online saying they were avenging an insult to Islam. The case is also being probed by the central probe agency.