Rajasthan CM sets up SIT to probe Udaipur man’s murder

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the cold-blooded murder of a tailor in Udaipur on June 28 and said the team will look into links of the killers with radical elements in India and abroad.

Speaking to media persons in Jaipur, the CM said his government has taken serious cognizance of the crime. “This incident could not have happened without links with radical elements [in India and abroad]. We can say this based on our past experiences,” said Gehlot.

Forty-seven-year-old Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor who extended support to suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on her comments on Prophet Mohammed, was brutally murdered by two Muslim men at his shop on June 28. The men filmed the murder on camera and posted online. The incident sparked protests and prompted the suspension of Internet services in Rajasthan.

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The Union government has also put the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on task for thoroughly investigating the involvement of any organisation or international linkages, especially because the killers had issued a threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Senior BJP leader from Rajasthan, Gulab Chand Kataria, said the Rajasthan police failed to provide protection to Lal, who had asked for police protection.

Kataria said the killing is part of a larger conspiracy to disturb peace and harmony.