New Delhi: In connection with the murder of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a seventh person. Farhad Mohammad Sheikh, alias Babla was arrested on Saturday evening, PTI reported citing an NIA spokesperson.
The spokesperson said that the new arrestee was a close aid of Riaz Akhtari, one of the two chief accused. He had played an active role in conspiring against the tailor.
Tailor Kanhaiya was murdered inside his own shop on June 28 by Riaz Akhtari with a cleaver. The gruesome act was filmed by Riaz's accomplice Ghouse Mohammad, and they posted it online. In a later video, the two culprits claimed that they were avenging the insult to Islam.
However, both were arrested hours after their committed the crime.
Later, the security agencies arrested two more people, identified Mohsin and Asif, who were accused of being part of the conspiracy intended to spread terror amongst the public. Another two, identified as Mohammed Mohsin and Wasim, were also arrested for involving in the conspiracy and aiding the two main accused in committing their gruesome act.
Agencies claimed that they had found many Pakistani contact numbers on the arrestees' WhatsApp accounts and alleged that one of the accused is a part of some secret groups meant for religious activities. In one of the groups, Ghouse was asked to do "something spectacular" to avenge the insult to Islam, officials claimed.
The NIA had, on June 29, re-registered the case under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act after taking it over from the Rajasthan Police.
The case was initially registered at the Dhanmandi police station in Udaipur.
"NIA has re-registered a case under sections 452, 302, 153(A), 153(B), 295(A) and 34 of IPC and sections 16, 18 & 20 of UA(P) Act, 1967 against accused who have conspired, planned and committed the heinous murder...," the agency spokesperson had said.
"The accused persons had also circulated a video of the criminal act on the social media claiming responsibility for the murder in order to trigger panic and strike terror among the masses across the country," the spokesperson had said.