Udaipur tailor murder case: Mob attacks accused outside Jaipur court

A large mob outside the Jaipur court today attacked the two killers in the gruesome murder of tailor Kanhaiya Lal. The mob attacked and ripped their clothes, but the police quickly put them into a waiting van and averted major injury.

When the accused were being taken back in a police vehicle, a mob of lawyers tried to attack them.

The four accused were presented at a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Jaipur. There were heavy police arrangements on the court premises and several lawyers shouted slogans like “Pakistan Murdabad” and “Kanhaiya ke hatyaron ko fansi do” (give death sentence to Kanhaiya’s killers).

The court on Saturday granted the custody of the killers to the NIA till July 12.

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Kanhaiya Lal, 48, was murdered last Tuesday by Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad over social media posts supporting BJP’s Nupur Sharma, who had made comments against Prophet Mohammed and was later suspended from the party.

The killers filmed the act and later posted a video bragging about it, saying they avenged “an insult to Islam”, and threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi too.

The two were arrested hours after the killing.

Two on stand-by

Two more persons — Mohsin and Asif — who were allegedly involved in a recce of Kanhaiya’s shop and in the alleged conspiracy to kill him, were also arrested later. Investigators today said two men were “on standby” to kill Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal had the two who killed him failed.

Mohsin and Asif also helped the killers escape the scene, said the NIA. A scooter belonging to one of the killers, Mohammad Ghouse, was found parked in Udaipur — a key link in the investigation.

Earlier, NIA sources said the agency is looking into possible involvement of “local self-radicalised gangs” having international links. The case has political ramifications, too, as the BJP — ruling at the Centre — has accused the Congress and its government in Rajasthan of being soft against radicalisation.

BJP denies link

The BJP on Saturday vehemently denied links to one of the killers in the gruesome murder of a tailor in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, after the Congress latched on to media reports and social media posts to draw the connection.

“We have no links to either of the accused,” Sadiq Khan, the chief of the BJP’s minority wing in the state, said at a news conference, repeating that the killing was a failure of the Congress government in Rajasthan.

Also read: Congress claims one of Udaipur killers is a BJP member

Concerns grew as a similar killing over supporting Nupur Sharma came to light in Amravati, Maharashtra. Police confirmed the link — two weeks after the murder — as Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked the NIA to investigate. “Six people have been arrested. They told us they killed him because of what he posted about Nupur Sharma,” senior police officer Vikram Sali said.