BJP denies link with Udaipur attacker amid furore

The Congress said that Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari, who along with Gaus Mohammad allegedly hacked to death 47-year-old Kanhaiya Lal on Tuesday over social media posts supporting suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma in the Prophet Mohammed row, was a BJP member.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday denied any links with one of the men who allegedly murdered a tailor in Udaipur as the Congress targeted it after photos of the attacker with BJP leaders from Rajasthan were circulated on social media.

Security personnel patrol during a four-hour relaxation in the curfew imposed by administration to maintain law and order after the murder of tailor Kanhaiya Lal, in Udaipur, Saturday. (PTI)

The Congress said that Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari, who along with Gaus Mohammad allegedly hacked to death 47-year-old Kanhaiya Lal on Tuesday over social media posts supporting suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma in the Prophet Mohammed row, was a BJP member.

“What could be more evident than this? Riyaz Akhtari was present at events of BJP leaders. BJP leaders referred to him as ‘bhai’. What is happening in this country?” Congress leader Pawan Khera said while alluding to Akhtari’s photos with Rajasthan BJP leaders Irshad Chainwala, Gulab Chand Kataria and Mohammad Tahir.

The BJP’s IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, dismissed the Congress’s claim as “fake news”.

“Congress should stop fooling around with terror and national security... I am not surprised that you are peddling #FakeNews. The Udaipur murderers WERN’T members of the BJP. Their attempt to infiltrate was like the LTTE assassin’s attempt to enter the Congress to kill Rajiv Gandhi,” he tweeted.

The BJP leaders, too, maintained that they were not associated with Akhtari.

“The photo of me garlanding Akhtari is when he returned from a pilgrimage… and was introduced by someone else to me,” Chainwala, who is the chief of the BJP’s Udaipur minority cell and a member of the state working committee, said.Chainwala had uploaded photos with Akhtari on Facebook in 2018.

Both Chainwala and Attari used to stay in the Kanji Pir locality of the Walled City of Udaipur. One of Chainwala’s neighbours, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Akhtari regularly participated in BJP functions till a few years ago. “I can’t say whether he (Akhtari) was enrolled as a BJP worker or not. But, he was very active for the party in the area till a few years ago,” he said. HT tried to contact Chainwala again but his mobile was switched off and he had left his house along with his belongings, according to his neighbours.

Mohammed Tahir, another Udaipur-based BJP minority cell leader, who in 2019 uploaded photos with Akhtari on Facebook, calling him a “BJP karyakarta” (BJP worker), could not be contacted as his phone was switched off. According to the neighbours, he too wasn’t at his residence.

Sadiq Khan, the president of Rajasthan BJP’s minority cell, refuted the allegations that Akhtari was a party member. “Riyaz Akhtari has never been the BJP’s member. He is in no way connected to the BJP and does not hold the party’s membership,” he said.

He said the BJP was a big party and anyone could get a picture taken with a party leader at a function. “The picture of Irshad Chainwala, a member of the state working committee, with Riyaz was clicked when he returned from Haj or Umra,” he said.

Kataria, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan assembly and an MLA from Udaipur, said he did not know Akhtari personally. “A photo of mine with that criminal (Akhtari) is being talked about… BJP has its minority cell and my presence in their programme is not a crime. I must have gone to a programme…who stands next to me in a photo is not in my hands. Despite that, if the law thinks my presence in the photo is a crime, then take action against me,” he said.

The Congress questioned the “quick” handing over of the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in light of what it called as “new facts”.

“Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had welcomed the transfer of this case to the NIA. However, in light of new facts, the question that arises is whether the BJP-led government at the Centre moved quickly to transfer the case to the NIA due to these reasons,” Khera said.

The BJP called the Congress’s allegation an attempt to malign the party.

“He [Akhtari] could have gone to some programme of the party with an intention of recce and got photos clicked with local leaders. Since it is a normal trend to upload photos with political leaders social media platforms, he might have also uploaded the photo but it does not mean that the accused was a BJP member,” Sadiq Khan said.