Jaipur:
Investigators today said two men were “on standby” to kill Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal had the two who killed him failed. A special court in Jaipur gave custody of all four men to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) till July 12. A mob attacked them outside the Jaipur court, but the NIA quickly put them into a waiting van and averted major injury.
Kanhaiya Lal, 48, was murdered on June 28 by two men — Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad — over social media posts supporting the now-suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma, who had made comments against Prophet Mohammed. They filmed the act and later posted a video bragging about it, saying they avenged “an insult to Islam”, and threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi too.
They were arrested on Tuesday, hours after the murder, while the two who were on “standby” — identified by the NIA as Mohsin and Asif — were arrested on Thursday night for the alleged conspiracy.
Mohsin and Asif also helped the killers escape the scene, said the NIA. A scooter belonging to one of the killers, Mohammad Ghouse, was found parked in in Udaipur, which became a key link in the investigation, it is learnt.