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Udaipur killing: NIA team rushed to spot to oversee ‘terror’ incident
People familiar with the development said the NIA team has been sent to get more details in Udaipur incident, which appears to be an act of terror.
The Centre on Tuesday rushed a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to Udaipur following the killing of a tailor to avenge the insult to Islam, officials at North Block said.
People familiar with the development said the NIA team has been sent to get more details in Udaipur incident, which appears to be an act of terror.
An official who didn’t want to be named said “this is a clear case of violent religious extremism and the beheading style used by accused persons to kill the tailor is the signature method of global terror outfit - Islamic State, which prompted the ministry of home affairs (MHA) to send a team there.”
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Two Muslim men attacked the tailor, and sought to behead him on Tuesday afternoon, capturing the entire video on a phone. In another video posted after the incident, the two can be seen gloating, and threaten Prime Minister Narendra Modi even as they brandish their knives. Rajasthan police arrested both men late on Tuesday evening.
A second official said “the threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi given by the accused is also a key reason for the Centre to rope in NIA”.
In instances where the Centre believes a murder has been committed not due to personal enmity but to create terror in the minds of people or there is an angle of religious extremism involved, it can hand over the probe to NIA without taking the consent of state government.
Also Read | Alert sounded in Delhi after Udaipur killing
Earlier too, NIA has probed several murders including that of RSS leader R Rudresh, who was hacked to death in October 2016 by two persons in Bengaluru; the killing of two BJP leaders, Shirish Bengali and Pragnesh Mistry, in Bharuch (Gujarat) in November 2015; and murder of Hindu Munnani activist K P Suresh Kumar in 2014 in Tamil Nadu.
The anti-terror agency probes offences related to terror attacks and terror financing. Under the NIA act, if the Centre believes that an offence committed in any state is a scheduled offence, the federal probe agency can “suo motu” take over the probe.
The central agency will seek local police’s assistance in interrogating the accused.
