Congress alleges main accused in Udaipur killing a BJP member; saffron party calls it fake news

Congress on Saturday sought to turn the tables on the Udaipur killing, claiming that the main accused is an “active member” of the saffron party while questioning whether the Narendra Modi-led government drafted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the case to cover it up.

The party also questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on the disclosures while alleging that the BJP through its leaders was trying to take advantage by polarising the country.

The BJP described the allegation as “fake news” and said Congress should “stop fooling around with terror and national security”.

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Days ago, a tailor in Udaipur, Kanhaiya Lal, was killed allegedly by two men – Riyaz Attari and Ghouse Mohammed – who also posted a video of the murder online claiming responsibility for the incident and linked it to his support for former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammed.

Congress Media and Publicity Department Chairman Pawan Khera told a press conference that a media group had initially made the “sensational disclosure” about the links of Attari with the BJP and party’s own research has shown that there were Facebook posts by a local BJP leader that substantiate it.

"The killer of Kanhaiya Lal, Riyaz Attari is a member of the BJP," Khera said, citing FB posts.

On his part, Khera cited posts linking Attari, whom some reports named as Akthari, with BJP leaders Irshad Chainwala and Mohammed Tahir. He alleged that it has come to light that Attari has been participating regularly in the programmes of former Rajasthan Minister Gulabchand Kataria.

Khera claimed that the Facebook post of Chainwala on 30 November, 2018 and those by Tahir on 3 February, 2019, 27 October, 2019, 10 August, 2021, 28 November, 2019 among others has clearly shown that Attari was an “active member” of the BJP.

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He also pointed to a post by Tahir about Attari performing Hajj and saying that the “BJP worker” has prayed for peace.

“What is happening in this country? Who is doing all these? Remember the Pulwama incident where 350 kg of RDX was found there? There was no inquiry as to how it reached there. There is silence. Pictures of someone attending meetings may not mean much but what does it mean when Facebook posts say he is a member. The Facebook posts make it abundantly clear that he is a BJP member,” Khera said.

Referring to the NIA probe, Khera said Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had welcomed it at first but with this new revelation, one needs to investigate more. “Why has the Centre rushed to order an NIA probe? In light of new facts, the question is whether the Centre moved quickly to transfer the case to the NIA due to these reasons,” he added.

However, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya earlier rebutted the claim by Congress Renuka Chowdhury and tweeted, “I am not surprised that you are peddling #FakeNews. The Udaipur murderers WERN’T members of the BJP. Their attempt to infiltrate was like the LTTE assassin’s attempt to enter the Congress to kill Rajiv Gandhi. Congress should stop fooling around with terror and national security.”