New Delhi: A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials has arrived at Amravati in Maharashtra to probe into the case of murder of Umesh Prahladrao Kolhe, a chemist shop owner who was killed for supporting suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
Earlier on Saturday, the Ministry of Home Affairs had handed over the investigation of the case to the NIA.
The NIA team has collected the CCTV footages.
“We will probe whether the accused arrested in the case had any Pakistan connection or not. We will probe it in the same way we are probing the Udaipur incident,” an official said.
The murder took place on June 21. The police found in the probe that he was killed for supporting Nupur Sharma.
“The conspiracy behind the killing, involvement of organisations and international linkages would be thoroughly investigated,” said MHA official.
Kolhe, 54, was brutally murdered in Maharashtra after he wrote a post in support of Sharma on Facebook. He used to run a chemist shop ‘Amit Medical Store’ in Amravati.
Sanket Kohle, his son had got an FIR registered in this respect with the City Kotwali Police Station.
The police after lodging the FIR had arrested Muddasir Ahmed, 22, and Shahrukh Pathan, 25, on June 23.
Later on, the police arrested three more accused identified as Abdul Taufiq, 24, Shoaib Khan, 22, and Atib Rashid, 22 on June 25. One Shamim Ahmed Firoz Ahmed is on the run in the matter.
“Kolhe posted a message on a WhatsApp group where Muslims who were his customers were also added. They did not like his support to Nupur and killed him,” said an official.
As per the probe, Kolhe was attacked while he was returning home at around 10.15 pm on June 21 on his two-wheeler, with his 27-year-old son Sanket and his wife Vaishnavi following on another vehicle.
(IANS)
