The murder of a tailor in Udaipur, which was recorded on camera by assailants, is being treated as a terror incident. The National Investigation Agency is likely to take over the case, as links of the killers to terror organisations are being probed
The two killers seen of camera have been arrested and a SIT team has been asked to investigate the case.
The murder of a tailor in Udaipur, which was filmed and posted online, has sent shockwaves throughout the country.
The attackers, who are identified as Gos Mohammad and Riyaz Attari, have been arrested. The two men entered the Kanhaiya Lal’s shop and slit his throat with a cleaver and attempted to behead him, claiming it was in retaliation for the tailor, who shared remarks made by Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Nupur Sharma on Prophet Muhammad.
The attack and the attackers
Kanhaiya Lal received multiple threats for his social media posts backing the suspended BJP leader. He was arrested by the local police and received bail on 15 June. He had informed the cops about the threats he received.
On Tuesday, the two attackers walked into his shop in Udaipur’s crowded Dhan Mandi market, pretending to be customers. In the video, Lal is seen measuring one of the men, who suddenly struck him with a cleaver, while the other filmed the killing. It was Attari who reportedly carried out the attack and Gos Mohammad was the one who shot the video.
After fleeing the shop, the two posted the video of the incident on social media. In another video posted online, the assailants boasted about the “beheading” and issued death threats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sharma.
According to the police, the killers tried to behead Lal but could not. While his neck was slit, the head was not severed, reports NDTV.
Attari reportedly works at a local mosque, while Mohammad runs a grocery store.
Terror links
Early investigations reveal that the man who identified himself as Riyaz Attari is likely to have terror links.
Attari has links to the Islamic State (IS), according to a report on CNN-News18. According to the sources, he could even be an IS operative himself and is seen in Facebook photos using the “typical finger signal” used by members of the terror group.
Beheadings are often associated with the IS, which was a growing threat in 2014. The terror outfit has beheaded several foreigners and then uploaded videos on social media.
However, some media reports suggest that he could be linked with a Pakistan-based extremist religious group Dawaat-e-Islami, which also has modules in India. The group is responsible for multiple terror incidents, including the assassination of Pakistan’s Punjab governor Salman Taseer in 2011.
The investigation
The murder is being treated as a terror incident. The Union Home Ministry dispatched a team of the anti-terror probe agency the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to Udaipur in the wake of the killing.
A special investigation team has been asked to investigate the incident.
“Prima-facie it seems to be a terror case and needs a thorough investigation which includes browsing through their social media profiles,” a senior official said.
The possible international link to the killing is the reason the case would be handed over to the NIA. The accused are expected to be charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
“This murder has been committed for ideological reasons, in the name of religion. The NIA will explore if there is any angle of terrorism and provide whatever assistance required to the state police,” a senior central government official told The Indian Express.
The NIA can take over such cases only after laws related to terrorism or other offences as mentioned in its schedule are invoked, the newspaper reports.
Negligence by local police?
An assistant sub-inspector of Dhan Mandi police station in Udaipur was suspended for negligence following the murder.
According to Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Hawa Singh Ghumaria, a first information report (FIR) against Kanhaiya Lal was registered on 11 June for sharing the post on social media backing Sharma, after which he was arrested. On 15 June, while he was on bail, he told police that he was receiving threat calls. The local SHO summoned him, the complainant and some people from both the communities to the police station and settled the matter, he said.
On Tuesday, ASI Bhanwar Lal posted at Dhan Mandi police station has been suspended for negligence. He reportedly turned a deaf ear to concerns raised by the tailor regarding the threat calls.
Tension in Udaipur
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC were imposed across Rajasthan after protests broke out over the killing. Large gatherings have been banned in the state for a month.
Ghumaria said that an additional 600 police personnel were rushed to the spot, including Additional ADGs Janga Sriniwas and MN Dinesh, apart from 30 Rajasthan Police Service officers.
Taking to Twitter, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot condemned the “heinous murder” and said “strict action will be taken against all the criminals involved in this incident” and that “the police will go to the bottom of the crime”.
Later, speaking to reporters in Jodhpur, Gehlot said the incident was “beyond imagination”. “It is not a small incident, the manner in which it has been committed, it is beyond imagination, beyond imagination that a person can commit such an act. No condemnation is enough,” he said.
With inputs from agencies
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