E-Paper
NIA takes over probe into Amravati killing
The “involvement of organisations and international linkages” will be investigated in the NIA probe, the home ministry said in a tweet.
The Centre on Saturday handed over the probe into the killing of a pharmacist in eastern Maharashtra’s Amravati city on June 21 to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), directing the central agency to look into a larger “conspiracy and international links”, even as the state police arrested the prime accused in the case.
A four-member NIA team reached Amravati on Friday night to gather details of the case from local police officials, people familiar with the matter said. A team of the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) of state police from Aurangabad is also visiting the city, a senior police official said in Mumbai.
Also Read | Amravati killing: 'Not able to understand why he was killed…', laments brother
The pharmacist, Umesh Prahladrao Kolhe, 54, was murdered on June 21 while he was on his way home. The assailants, who intercepted the victim near New Main High school, slit his throat with a knife and fled without taking any valuables or his mobile phone. Investigators said Kolhe may have been murdered for posting messages on social media in support of suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who made controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammed.
Handing over the case to the central agency, a tweet from the Home Minister’s Office said, “MHA has handed over the investigation of the case relating to the barbaric killing of Shri Umesh Kolhe in Amravati Maharashtra on 21st June to NIA.”
The “involvement of organisations and international linkages” will be investigated in the NIA probe, the tweet said.
People familiar with the development said the central agency was roped in after it emerged that self-radicalised Muslim men may have targeted Kolhe as in the murder of tailor, Kanhaiya Lal, in Udaipur in Rajasthan on June 28.
State BJP leaders also said that Kolhe’s murder bore similarities with Lal’s murder. “NIA team is trying to find out whether Kolhe’s killing was linked with the murder of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Rajasthan,” said state BJP spokesperson Shivray Kulkarni, who hails from Amravati.
Two Muslim men allegedly hacked 47-year-old Lal to death over his social media posts supporting suspended BJP spokesperson Sharma after she made the controversial comments against the Prophet.
Kolhe was murdered 10 days after he forwarded similar messages in support of Sharma on his Facebook page.
NIA is probing the Udaipur murder case as well and has registered a first information report under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), promoting enmity on the grounds of religion and murder. People cited above said terror charges are likely to be invoked in the Amravati case.
To be sure, there is no indication so far that both incidents are connected.
Six people — Irfan Khan, 27, Mudassir Ahmed Shaikh Ibrahim, 22, Shahrukh Pathan Khan, 23, Abdul Taufeeq Tasleem, 24, Shoeb Khan, 29, and Ateef Rashid, 23 – arrested by Amravati police for Kolhe’s murder will be taken into custody by NIA, the people said.
As part of its probe, the agency will look into the past association of arrested accused and whether they were in touch with any local or foreign radical elements, the people said.
Late on Saturday, the state police arrested the main accused, Irfan Khan.
Amravati deputy commissioner of police Vikram Sali, who was initially supervising the investigation, said the NIA probe is running parallel to the state police investigation.
Sali said that prima facie investigation revealed that Kolhe’s murder was linked with Sharma’s comments. “We have arrested all the six accused involved in the case,” he said.
According to the state police, Kolhe was killed between 10pm and 10.30pm on June 21 while returning home on his two-wheeler.
A police official earlier said that Khan allegedly hatched a conspiracy to kill Kolhe and roped in five others, promising to pay them ₹10,000 and safe escape in a car after the killing.
Sharma’s comments on Prophet Mohammed during a TV debate on the dispute over Gyanvapi mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi triggered a huge international row, as several Muslim countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, sent official notes to India over the matter.
She was suspended as a spokesperson on June 5, while another BJP leader Naveen Jindal was expelled by the BJP for controversial statements on Islam.
Police have also seized the knife used in the crime and obtained CCTV footage that captured the sequence of events.
The CCTV footage of the incident released on Saturday showed Kolhe minutes before he was stopped by the accused and stabbed. Two of the accused, Ibrahim and Shahrukh Pathan Khan, can also be seen on the CCTV footage conducting reconnaissance, said Sali.
Police have also sent the mobile phones of the accused and the victim for forensic examination, said Sali.
Raking up a political controversy, BJP leader Anil Bonde said: “He got threats from 2-3 people, asking him to apologise. As Kolhe didn’t do so, he was murdered.”
