The Rajasthan police today handed over the Udaipur beheading incident probe to National Investigative Agency (NIA) amid the reports of the incident turned out to be an act of terror. The NIA had reregistered the case after the initial findings.
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot has informed this in his tweet saying, "a case has been registered under UAPA, so now, further investigation will be done by NIA and Rajasthan ATS will extend its full cooperation."
CM Gehlot, who was in Jodhpur on Wednesday, cancelled his visit and return to Jaipur to hold a high-level meeting with senior officials of the state. The officials briefed him about the international connections of the accused.
"In the high-level meeting, police officials said that preliminary investigation revealed that the incident was prima facie and was done to spread terror. It was informed that both the accused have connections in other countries as well," Gehlot tweeted.
In the meantime, the Rajasthan police have taken three others into custody. The DGP of Rajasthan police ML Lathar said, "two are the main accused so far, and we have taken three others into our custody, with whom they were in contact." The DGP said that the incident is being considered an act of terror. He admitted that there had been a compromise while the police should have acted on Kanhoiyalal’s report.
In the meantime, the NIA team has also reached Udaipur and interrogated Rajkumar, who worked with Kanhaiyalal in Udaipur. The NIA team also reached the house and the shop of the deceased.
The reports are coming in that the accused has contacts in Pakistan. NIA has got 8-10 mobile numbers and frequent calls were made on these numbers, NIA informed.
The Minister of State for Home Rajendra Yadav said that both the accused Mohammad Riyaz and Mohammad Ghaus were in contact with some people in Pakistan and Arab countries and got 15 days of training in Karachi in 2014-15.
"It has come to light that both were associated with an organization called Dawat-e-Islam in Pakistan," said Yadav.
Investigation revealed that after the return of Mohammad Riyaz and Mohammad Ghaus from Karachi, Riyaz was instigating the youth in Udaipur for communal tension. Riyaz was in contact with a Maulana from Karachi in Pakistan. The NIA team is searching for their contacts in India.
The situation in Udaipur remained peaceful but tense on Wednesday, while no new incident of vandalism was reported in the city. Though people took out rallies outside the Udaipur city and shops remained closed.
The administration had to impose a curfew in 7 police circles of the city on Tuesday night after incidents of stone-pelting and vandalism. "Law and order situation is under control. No incident happened after the murder. Action will be taken against the accused," said Manoj Kumar, the Udaipur SP.
Bandh observed in several cities:
In protest of the beheading incident of Udaipur, Bandh was called in many cities of Rajasthan, including Dungarpur, Rajsamand, Pali, Sojat, and Bhinmal and Sanchore. Although the situation remains almost under control across the state, a police constable was injured after a protest turned violent in the Bhim town of Rajsamand district.
Last rites performed:
A large number of people gathered during the last rites of the deceased Kanhiylal. People held meetings after the funeral and decided to shut their offices and shops till 4 pm on Thursday.
A heavy police force was also deployed during the funeral to control the crowd. The police had asked the family to perform the last rites near the house, however, they denied it.
Before this, the postmortem of the deceased took place in the presence of senior officials of the police at the government hospital and the body was taken to his native place.
Family demands death sentence:
Yashoda, the wife of the deceased, has demanded a death sentence for the culprits.
She said, "the government has given compensation but it is of no use. My children lost their father. I want the death sentence for the culprits."
The son of the deceased Yash said, "the last 15 days were horrifying. Father was getting threats and had to shut his shop for six days. We want the death sentence for the culprits."
It is to mention here that the government has announced a compensation of Rs 31 lakhs to the kin of the deceased.
BJP attacks Gehlot:
In the meantime, the opposition has strongly criticized the Gehlot government for its appeasement politics. The national spokesperson of the BJP and MP from Jaipur, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathor, said that the state government is responsible for this terror attack.
Such incidents are being continuously reported in the state and terror wings are thriving. The state government has directly or indirectly provoked them.
While the Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, slamming Gehlot said, "Kanhiyalal informed the police about death threats but the police did not act."
