Udaipur tailor murder: BJP dismisses allegations that accused was party worker

The Rajasthan BJP minority cell president Sadiq Khan said that the accused in the Udaipur tailor murder case, Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari, might have gone to some party programme with the intention of recce and got photos clicked with the local leaders

The Rajasthan Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday denied the Congress’ allegations that one of the main accused in the murder of tailor, Kanhaiya Lal, in Udaipur on Tuesday, was a BJP member.

The photos of Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari, the prime accused in the Udaipur tailor murder case, with BJP leaders emerged on social media today. (Sourced)

The photos of Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari with BJP leaders including leader of opposition in Rajasthan assembly, Gulab Chand Kataria, who is also an MLA from Udaipur, had gone viral on social media. There were also pictures of Akhtari with Udaipur minority cell chief, Irshad Chainwala, identifying him as a “BJP Karyakarta” actively involved in party affairs.

As the controversy over Akhtari being a BJP worker got bigger, more pictures of him with local BJP leaders and participating in local party functions went viral. However, Chainwala said that he was not associated with Akhtari.

“The photo of garland was taken when he returned from pilgrimage, and was introduced by someone else to me,” he said. When asked whether Akhtari was involved in party work, Chainwala said he was not aware. However, he was quick to add that Akhtari was not a party worker. Both Chainwala and Akhtari used to stay in Kanji Pir locality of the Walled City of Udaipur.

Chainwala’s neighbour, who refused to identify himself, said both of them knew each other well and Akhtari was a regular participant in the BJP functions. “I can’t say whether he (Akhtari) was an enrolled BJP worker or not. But he was very active for the party in the area till a few years ago,” he said.

When HT tried to contact Chainwala, his mobile was found to be switched off and he had left his single room house. His neighbours said he had left with his belongings. Mohammed Tahir, another Udaipur-based BJP minority cell leader, with whom Akhtari’s pictures went viral, had also left his Udaipur residence and his mobile phone was switched off.

On Saturday, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera held a press conference in Delhi and alleged that Akhtari was an active BJP worker and shared his pictures with Chainwala, Kataria and other BJP leaders from Udaipur. Khera also alleged that the reason for the Centre handing over the investigation to the National Investigation Agency was to hide that Akhtari was a BJP worker.

“We did our research on the claims of media reports on link between the BJP and Riyaz Akhtari and found he knew many BJP leaders. We found four years ago Chainwala shared picture with Akhtari and two years ago another minority cell leader Mohammed Tahir had pictures with him. Mohammed Tahir has identified Akhtari as an Udaipur BJP karyakarta after he returned from a religious pilgrimage,” said Khera.

President, Rajasthan BJP’s minority cell, Sadiq Khan, said, “Riyaz Akhtari has never been a BJP member. He is nowhere connected to the BJP and does not hold the party’s membership.”

He said the BJP is the biggest party and getting a picture clicked with party leader can be done by anyone.

“The picture of Irshad Chainwala, a member of state working committee with Riyaz was clicked when the latter returned from Haj or Umra. They are known to each other but are not relatives,” he said.

On the allegations, he said, this was an attempt and conspiracy to malign the BJP.

“He could have gone to some programme of the party with the intention of recce and got photos clicked with local leaders. Since it is a normal trend to upload photos with leaders or celebrities on Facebook and other social media platforms, he might have also uploaded the photo but it does not mean that the accused was a BJP member,” he said.

The photos were, however, uploaded by Tahir and Chainwala on their respective Facebook accounts. Chainwala has now locked his Facebook account.

Khan alleged that the Congress wants to blame the shift to the BJP in order to divert public attention from the failure of the Ashok Gehlot government, which did nothing for minorities in the last three and a half years.

On Tuesday, Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari and Gaus Mohammed hacked the neck of tailor Kanhaiya Lal and posted a video on social media saying that they are avenging an insult to Islam and triggering communal tension in the Rajasthan city.