One of the accused in the murder of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal are produced before an NIA court on July 5, 2022.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Jaipur: Rajasthan High Court today granted bail to one of the accused in the cold-blooded killing of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal in 2022.
The High Court granted bail to Mohammed Javed, who was involved in the conspiracy to to kill Kanhaiya Lal. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested him from Udaipur on July 22, 2022. Javed was accused of conducting a recce of the area and said to have passed on the information to the killers Riyaz Attari and Ghous Mohammed.
The case dates back to BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who had made some controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammed on a TV news, leading to a furore and clashes between those who rallied for her and those who vehemently opposed her.
Kanhaiya Lal was one who supported her statements. Kanhaiya Lal had made some disputed social media posts, after which he started receiving threats. A police complaint was lodged against him by his neighbour Nazim. He himself also lodged a complaint with the police saying the post was mistakenly made by his son and that he was receiving death threats.
On June 28, 2022 Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor was in his shop working, when he was attacked and beheaded in broad daylight by Riyaz Attari and Ghous Mohammed. They also filmed the killing on a video and even threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The two, Attari and Ghous Mohammed were arrested soon after the killing. While Mohammed Javed was arrested a month later in July. Ghous Mohammed had confessed that the plan to kill Kanhaiya Lal was hatched at a meet on June 20 which was supposed to have been attended by at least nine others. But those who are supposed to have attended the meet have denied that any such meet had taken place.
The bench led by Justice Pankaj Bhandari today said that NIA had arrested Mohammed Javed based on his call details but had not been able to establish his location that day. Neither have they been able to recover anything substantial from Javed. Justice Bhandari said Javed has been in jail for a long duration now and the trial is also expected to run long. Under these circumstances, he is granted bail.
Javed’s counsel, Saiyed Sawadat Ali said although NIA has said that Javed was at Indiana tea stall and hatched the plan there, the fact is tea stall owner Dharmendra Sahu did not confirm this.
Moreover, the CCTV footage recovered from Kanhaiya Lal’s shop confirmed that Javed never visited his shop and that he could not have conducted an inspection of the area. He also said there were no calls between Riyaz Attari and Javed. No call details have been sourced from his phone. He was just a salesman at a bangle shop and got calls from many customers.
Of the 11 arrested, another accused Farhad Mohammed was released on bail on September 1, 2023.