The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested the eleventh accused in the murder case of an Amravati-based chemist for supporting statements made by suspended Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma on Prophet Muhammad.
The Central agency arrested Shamim Ahmed from Mumbai after he surrendered to local police on Wednesday for his alleged role in killing Umesh Kolhe, 54, on June 21 at Amravati. Mr. Ahmed had been absconding, and NIA had declared ₹2 lakh as reward for any information leading to his arrest.
Kolhe was murdered by two motorcycle-borne men, who slit his throat, for supporting comments made by Ms. Sharma in May. She had made objectionable remarks on the Prophet on national television, sparking an outrage on the national and international level. On July 2, the Maharashtra Police had arrested seven people before the case was taken over by the NIA.
The Central agency on July 6 conducted raids at 13 locations across Maharashtra in connection with Kolhe’s murder. It reportedly recovered incriminating materials such as pamphlets spreading hate messages, knives, mobile phones, SIM cards, and memory cards, among others.
The other 10 persons who were already arrested are namely Irfan Shaikh, Shoaib Khan, Mudassir Ahmed, Aatif Rashid, Yusuf Khan, Abdul Toufiq and Shahrukh Pathan, Shamim Ahmed, Firoj Ahmed, Abdul Arbaz and Maulavi Mushfique Ahmed.
The First Information Report has been registered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and sections 34 (acts done with common intention), 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony),153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
