Eighth accused in Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal’s murder held: NIA
A statement issued by the NIA on Friday said, “Javed had played an important role in the conspiracy to kill Kanhaiya Lal by conducting reconnaissance and passing on information about Lal’s presence at his shop to the main killer – Riyaz Attari – prior to the gruesome attack.”
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested eight accused in the killing of tailor Kanhaiya Lal Teli in Rajasthan’s Udaipur last month, the agency said on Friday.
According to the agency, Mohammad Javed, 19, a resident of Udaipur, was arrested on Thursday.
A statement issued by the NIA on Friday said, “Javed had played an important role in the conspiracy to kill Kanhaiya Lal by conducting reconnaissance and passing on information about Lal’s presence at his shop to the main killer – Riyaz Attari – prior to the gruesome attack.”
Riyaz and Gaus Mohammad killed Lal on June 28 for supporting former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma’s contentious remarks on Prophet Mohammed. The accused captured the killing on their phones and issued a threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they proudly posed with the knives used in the murder in a hate crime that shocked the country. The duo was arrested hours after the crime that day.
Attari is allegedly linked to a Karachi based religious organization – Dawat-e-Islami.
Investigations have revealed so far that all the accused persons were self-radicalised.
Besides the Udaipur killing, the NIA is also probing the murder of a chemist in Maharashtra’s Amravati district on June 21. The chemist, Umesh Kolhe (54), was also allegedly murdered for his social media posts backing Sharma’s remarks on the Prophet.
No organized gang or terror outfit has so far claimed responsibility for both the Udaipur and Amravati killings. Investigators are also trying to ascertain if there is a link between the two cases.