The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a seventh accused in the case pertaining to the killing of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiyya Lal Teli, purportedly after he made some social media posts in favour of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
Farhad Mohammad Sheikh @ Babla, aged 31 years and a resident of Diwan Sah Colony in Udaipur, Rajasthan was a close criminal associate of one of the main accused in the case, Riyaz Attari, and played an active part in the conspiracy to kill Kanhaiyya, the NIA said.
Sources said the accused ran a pushcart near Patel Circle, selling snacks. “He was kind of a local entity with a very wide range of local contacts . People sometimes borrowed his bikes, he also lent small amounts of money to them on a few occasions,” said an official.
Sheikh’s name cropped up when an NIA team arrived in Udaipur last week to examine Kanhaiyya’s shop “Supreme Tailors” in the Bhoot Mahal area near Maldas Street. The team also examined different places associated with the suspects to search for evidence.
The case pertains to hacking of Kanhaiyya to death by two accused at his shop in Maldas Street late last month. The accused had circulated a video of the criminal act in the social media, claiming responsibility for the murder “in order to trigger panic and strike terror among the masses across the country”, NIA had stated while re-registering the FIR that was originally registered at Police Station Dhanmandi, Udaipur.
