Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 5: The killers of the Amravati veterinary chemist had planned for the murder the previous day Umesh Kolhe lived for one more day just because he had shut the shop on that day earlier than schedule.
The investigating sources said the killers were ready on June 20 for the “revenge killing” of Kolhe, but he had closed his shop that evening by 9.30 P.M. and returned home than his normal closing time of 10 to 10.30 P.M.
The CCTV footage of the area where he was killed showed the chemist surrounded by his killers and attacked. The grainy footage from June 21 shows Umesh Kolhe suddenly collapsing after being attacked. Umesh Kolhe’s throat was slit by two men on a motorcycle on his way back from his medical shop.
Kolhe was killed allegedly over his support to BJP ex spokesperson Nupur Sharma, whose comments on Prophet Muhammad caused outrage in India and abroad. The chemist was a part of a WhatsApp group named “Black Freedom” which has both Hindu and Muslim members.
On the WhatsApp chat, Kolhe reportedly made some religious comments in support of Nupur Sharma. The post was shared by his friend and customer Yousuf Khan, a veterinary doctor, to other WhatsApp groups. One of these WhatsApp groups was “Kalim Ibrahim”.
Irfan Khan, a member of this group, was furious at the comments, say police sources. He planned the killing with six more members, the police say. It is learnt that Irfan also paid Rs 10,000 each to carry out the execution.
Yousuf Khan, who runs an NGO called “Rehbar” to help Muslim families, even visited Kolhe’s family during his funeral. Irfan Khan and Yousuf Khan are among the seven men arrested for Kolhe’s murder. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the probe of both the Amravati and Udaipur murders suspected to have been caused by their supportive statements online for the suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma who comments against Prophet Mohammad rocked the nation and the Muslim world.
Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra has written to NIA chief Dinkar Gupta demanding widening its probe into the killing of the Udaipur tailor and LeT miltant’s arrest in Kashmir, alleging the accused in both cases were BJP members. The BJP, however, hit back at Dotasra, accusing him of doing “petty politics” based on “forged photos that are going viral in social media.”
In the letter to the NIA chief, Dotasra claimed that going by media reports, Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari, one of the accused in the Udaipur incident, “was an active member of the BJP and he used to regularly participate in party programmes.”
Akhtari’s pictures with BJP MLA from Udaipur Gulab Chand Kataria have also surfaced on social media.
The Rajasthan Congress chief, in his letter to the NIA director-general also quoted media reports to claim that Talib Hussain Shah, one of the two terrorists arrested in Jammu and Kashmir’s in Reasi, was also the social media in charge of the BJP’s Jammu Minority Front.
“There is restlessness among the people… whether the BJP is supporting anti-national activities in its greed for power. To eliminate this doubt, the NIA should widen its investigation for both the incidents,” Dotasra said in the letter.
In a statement, the Congress leader alleged that the BJP leaders in Rajasthan are involved in a blind race to become the party’s chief ministerial candidate in next year’s Assembly elections and have no concern for people’s welfare.
“This is the reason why BJP leaders are going to the victim Kanhaiya Lal’s house after seven days of the incident and coming back from Hyderabad after having fun.” The killing of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal was mentioned in obituary references during the BJP’s national executive meeting in Hyderabad.
Hitting back at Dotasra, Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly Rajendra Rathore termed the state Congress chief’s letter an attempt at ‘petty politics.’ “Dotasra is doing petty politics based on forged photos that are going viral on social media. Before this, he should get the photo of Asif Hasadi, the main accused in the Chhabra communal violence incident in which he was seen attending the Iftar party held at the chief minister’s residence,” Rathore tweeted.
BJP leaders in Rajasthan have already refuted the allegation levelled by the Congress that the main accused in the Kanhaiya Lal murder case in Udaipur was a BJP member.
“Anyone can have a photo with any leader. It does not mean that he is a member of the BJP,” said Mohammad Sadiq Khan, the state president of the BJP Minority Morcha.
“He might have gone to some party programme to carry out a recce and got photos clicked with local leaders. Since it is a normal trend to upload photos with leaders or celebrities on social media platforms, he might have also uploaded the photo but it does not mean that he is a BJP member,” Khan said. The BJP leader said the murder highlights the state government’s failure as it did not provide security to Kanhaiya Lal despite a clear threat.
