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NIA arrests 7th person in Udaipur killing; a close aide of Riyaz Attari
Earlier, the two attackers -- Attari and Gaus Mohammad, and four other associates -- Mohsin Khan, Asif Hussain, Mohammad Mohasin and Vasim Ali were arrested and are currently being interrogated in NIA custody till July 12 about a larger international conspiracy and the role of an organised terror gang or terror outfit
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday arrested the seventh person in the killing of a tailor in Udaipur, carried out by radical Islamists on June 28.
The arrested person -- Farhad Mohammad Sheikh alias Babla, 31, is a close criminal associate of the main killer Mohammad Riyaz Attari and had actively taken part in the conspiracy to kill the tailor Kanhaiya Lal, the agency said.
Earlier, the two attackers -- Attari and Gaus Mohammad, and four other associates -- Mohsin Khan, Asif Hussain, Mohammad Mohasin and Vasim Ali were arrested and are currently being interrogated in NIA custody till July 12 about a larger international conspiracy and the role of an organised terror gang or terror outfit.
A statement issued by a NIA spokesperson said - “Farhad was a close criminal associate of one of the main accused Riyaz Attari and was an active part of the conspiracy to kill Kanhaiya Lal.”
The central agency is currently examining phones and other devices of the accused to find their association on social media and links with international terror networks.
A NIA team had gone to Udaipur on Friday again to recreate the crime scene and probe the local connections of Attari and Gaus Mohammad, the duo who hacked Kanhaiya Lal for supporting the statement of suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma on the Prophet.
Investigators are also probing the role of a Karachi based religious organisation Dawat-e-Islami in the Udaipur killing as Attari was its follower.
Sharma’s comments on Prophet Mohammed during a TV debate on May 28 triggered an international row. She was suspended as a spokesperson of the BJP on June 5, while another BJP leader Naveen Jindal was expelled for his statements on Islam.
Similarly, in the Amravati case too, in which a pharmacist – Umesh Kolhe was murdered on June 21, the NIA is focusing on online ‘handlers’ who motivated the accused persons to carry out the attack as well as local connections of suspects.
No organised gang or terror outfit has so far claimed responsibility for both the attacks. Investigators are also yet to ascertain if both the incidents are connected except the fact that the accused targeted victims who supported Sharma’s comments.
As reported by HT on July 5, Union home minister Amit Shah, during a meeting with NIA chief Dinkar Gupta, has asked the agency to go after such radical elements “freely”.
