E-Paper
UP: Hindu outfit leader killed; govt forms SIT
LUCKNOW A Hindu outfit leader was killed by two unidentified assailants at his house-cum-office in Lucknow’s Khursheed Bagh neighbourhood on Friday, the police said.
LUCKNOW A Hindu outfit leader was killed by two unidentified assailants at his house-cum-office in Lucknow’s Khursheed Bagh neighbourhood on Friday, the police said.
The state government late on Friday constituted a three- member special investigation team (SI)T to investigate the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari, founder of the Hindu Samaj Party.
Family members and locals initially informed the police that Tiwari, 52, was shot as well as stabbed by the assailants clad in saffron kurtas. Police officials later said no bullet wound had been found on his body and that he died of stab wounds.
Lucknow’s senior superintendent of police ( SSP) Kalanidhi Naithani said the police team had managed to retrieve CCTV footage of the two suspects and multiple teams had been deployed to nab the assailants.
Police investigators were yet to ascertain the motive behind the murder even as the incident led to outrage on social media. Some Hindu outfits staged a protest in Lucknow to demand arrest of the killers. Shops at Ganesh Ganj market, which is adjacent to Khursheed Bagh, were closed. The police were deployed in strength to deter potential troublemakers.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath sought a detailed report on the incident from additional chief secretary, home, Awanish Awasthi and director general of police OP Singh, said a state government spokesman
Tiwari’s close friend Sushil Bajpai said Tiwari had been associated once with the Hindu Mahasabha but he quit the organisation and formed the Hindu Samaj Party in January 2017. He said Tiwari also operated a local news group, Rashtravadi Dharamsatta.
Another close associate of Tiwari, Saurashtra Jeet Singh, who saw the two assailants, said he, along with Tiwari’s wife and his two sons, were present in the house when the two assailants visited him. He said the assailants were wearing saffron kurtas and jeans and one of them was wearing a cap and spectacles.
“I was present in the same room before Tiwari sent me to bring pan masala from a nearby shop. He was attacked apparently as soon as I left the place,” said Singh. He said that when he returned in a few minutes, he found Tiwari lying on the floor in a pool of blood and the two unknown visitors missing.
