Several lawyers, litigants and visitors in a Jaipur court kicked, slapped and hurled abuses at the four men arrested for the beheading of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal Sahu when they were taken to the vehicle for ferrying prisoners after being produced before a judge last week.
The people shouted slogans against Pakistan and demanded capital punishment for the four accused - main suspects Mohammad Riyaz and Gaus Mohammad, and "co-conspirators" Mohsin and Asif. The quartet was
produced in a special court dealing with NIA cases amid tight security. The court of presiding officer Ravindra Kumar sent them to NIA custody for 10 days till July 12.
The proceedings followed high drama in and outside the courthouse. Such was the anger against Riyaz and Gaus that the crowd assaulted them, shouted slogans and demanded that they be killed in a staged police shooting.
Although personnel of special police units guarded the quartet, some people got close and kicked them. Some threw water bottles at them. Slogans such as "Police inka encounter karo, hum tumhare saath hain", "Pakistan murdabad", among others were heard when the accused were brought to the courtroom on the third floor.
2 'co-conspirators' arrested
Earlier, two “co-conspirators” were arrested in connection with the beheading of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal. Udaipur IGP Prafulla Kumar said the duo - Mohsin Khan and Asif - were involved in the planning and execution stages of the crime. Both are residents of Udaipur. Public prosecutor Praveen Khandelwal said the two men will be sent to a special CBI court designated for NIA cases in Jaipur. NIA is investigating the case as it appears to be an act of terrorism, with the probability of foreign jihadi influences quite high.
UAPA slapped on 7 Amravati suspects
An Amravati court gave the NIA custody of the seven men arrested so far for the June 21 murder of chemist Umesh Kolhe, coinciding with police slapping additional charges against them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The NIA has registered a separate FIR under the UAPA.
As the agency waited to formally take over the murder probe on the instructions of Union home minister Amit Shah, Amravati police contested allegations about the case being "suppressed" initially. Police commissioner Arti Singh pointed to the arrest of two of the suspects within a couple of days of Kolhe's murder, although the possibility of a link between the crime and the victim's support of ex-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma wasn't known at the time.
NIA chief briefs Shah
Meanwhile, the chief of NIA on Monday met Shah and is understood to have briefed him about the progress in the ongoing investigations in the killings of two persons in Rajasthan's Udaipur and Maharashtra's Amravati, officials said.
Both the cases were handed over to the NIA by the home ministry.
Dinkar Gupta, Director General of NIA, had a 40-minute meeting with the home minister at his North Block office where the former is said to have apprised him about the probe into the two cases.
