Amravati pharmacist murder case: NIA files charge-sheet in Mumbai court against 11 accused

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a chargesheet against 11 persons arrested in the case related to the killing of Amravati-based pharmacist Umesh Kolhe.

Those accused in the chargesheet are Mubashir Ahmed, Shahrukh Khan, Abdul Tausheef Sheikh, Mohd Shoeb, Atib Rashid, Yusuf Khan, Irfan Khan, Abdul Arbaz, Musfeeq Ahmed, Sheikh Shakeel, and Shahim Ahmed.

The incident took place on June 21 when the chemist was stabbed by two men in Amravati when he was returning home after closing his store. He had forwarded messages that were in favour of suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma who had made controversial remarks on the Prophet. The NIA took over the case from the local police. The incident took place a week before the killing of a tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur on June 28. 

The first two arrests in the case took place on June 23, two more had followed the next day. In the following days, more arrests were made, taking the total arrests to 11, the last being in September.

The agency on Friday sought the court's permission to continue its investigation against two suspected accused who are absconding. Also, to submit additional documents concerning the present accused. 

The court had earlier permitted an extension of 90 days to the agency to conduct its probe. The agency submitted the chargesheet two days before the deadline - on the 88th day. It also informed the court that statements of 15 crucial witnesses have been truncated to protect their identities. The agency's prosecutor told the court that there are eight documents related to these protected witnesses, which would need to be kept in sealed envelopes. Five of the protected witnesses have testified before a magistrate under a provision of the criminal procedure code that makes their statement of a higher evidentiary value during trial.