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Udaipur killing: NIA to probe Pakistan links of accused
Tailor Kanhaiya Lal was hacked to death by Gaus Mohammed and Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari for supporting former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma’s remarks on Prophet Mohammed in Udaipur on Tuesday, the police said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing whether Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari and Gaus Mohammed, two people accused in the brutal killing of a Hindu tailor in Udaipur earlier this week, are part of a larger international terror network or just a “local self-radicalised terror gang with no outside support”, officials familiar with the matter said.
The agency is also interrogating Gaus Mohammed for his possible links with Karachi-based organisation Dawat-e-Islami, they added.
“We are exploring all angles, including internal and international linkages as well as others who may have been associated with Riyaz and Gaus. Nothing is being ruled out at this stage,” one of the officials said on condition of anonymity.
Tailor Kanhaiya Lal was hacked to death by Gaus Mohammed and Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari for supporting former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma’s remarks on Prophet Mohammed in Udaipur on Tuesday, the police said.
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 has shocked the country. The duo was arrested hours after the crime that day.
Subsequently, the Centre rushed an NIA team to Udaipur to probe the killing.
According to the Rajasthan Police, Gaus had travelled to Karachi in Pakistan to attend a Dawat-e-Islami session in 2014.
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The Dawat-e-Islami sect believes in imposing Sharia in Pakistan and preaches to followers on the Quran and Sunnah. The sect is close to the Pakistan-based Tehreek-e-Labbaik extremist group, which is opposed to any change in the blasphemy law in the Islamic Republic and is rooted in Barelvi ideology.
NIA will interrogate Gaus Mohammed to find out if he has radicalised anyone in India on the basis of his experience in Karachi and if he was in touch with members of the Dawat-e-Islami, a second officer said, asking not to be named.
The country’s counterterror task force has already registered a case on charges of terror, murder, promoting enmity on grounds of religion, race, and house trespass with a motive to assault against the accused in the case.
A team of at least 8-10 NIA officers has been deputed to probe the case, collect forensic evidence, interrogate the attackers and their aides, coordinate with Rajasthan Police and scour the database to find if the accused had any history of violence, officials said.
NIA has also rushed an inspector general and a deputy inspector general to supervise the probe, they added.
The agency maintains a database of all terror suspects, arrested or convicted, belonging to every outfit operating in the country.
Besides NIA, the Intelligence Bureau is interrogating the accused. NIA will soon approach a court in Jaipur to seek their formal custody, officials said.
The agency hopes to get important clues in the coming days, especially from digital devices, including phones and laptops of the accused persons, the two officers cited above said.
