Farhad Mohammad Sheikh (alias Babla), arrested on Saturday evening, is the seventh arrest in the brutal killing of Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor in Udaipur's Maldas street neighbourhood. Kanhaiya Lal was brutally killed a few days after, he had posted on social media in support of Nupur Sharma.
NIA spokesperson said Farhad Mohammad Sheikh was a "close criminal associate" of Riaz Akhtari, one of the two main accused in the Kanhaiya Lal murder case. He took an active part in the conspiracy to kill Kanhaiya Lal.
Kanhaiya Lal was killed with a cleaver inside his tailoring shop in broad daylight in Udaipur on June 28 for supporting Nupur Sharma on social media.
The gruesome attack on Kanhaiya Lal by Riaz Akhtari was recorded on a phone by the second main accused Ghouse Mohammad. Soon after committing the crime, the two accused posted the video on social media boasting about the "beheading". They said in the video that they hacked the tailor to death to avenge an alleged insult to Islam.
The duo were arrested within hours of the killing. Four more persons were arrested subsequently.
Later, the ministry of home affairs directed the NIA to take over the investigation of the case as the preliminary evidence suggests that the attackers may have connections to ISIS. The investigators, according to the officials, would extensively look into the situation and check the backgrounds of the two accused people who had been detained.
The case was initially registered at the Dhanmondi police station in Udaipur. later NIA re-registered the case under sections 452, 302, 153(A), 153(B), 295(A) & 34 of IPC and sections 16, 18 & 20 of UA(P) Act, 1967 against the accused who have conspired, planned and committed the heinous murder of Kanhaiya Lal Telli on 28.6.2022 in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
