Mumbai: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Saturday that the National Investigation Agency was taking over investigations into the murder of an Amravati chemist allegedly over a social media post in support of suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma.
“MHA has handed over the investigation of the case relating to the barbaric killing of Shri Umesh Kolhe in Amravati Maharashtra on 21st June to NIA,” Shah said in a tweet. “The conspiracy behind the killing, involvement of organisations, and international linkages would be thoroughly investigated.”
The development comes two days after the NIA took over investigations into the brutal beheading of a tailor in Udaipur over a similar post. The incident took place a week before the Udaipur incident.
Umesh Kolhe was allegedly stabbed to death on the night of June 21 while on his way home from work.
His son Sanket, who registered a police complaint after his father’s death, described him as a quiet man, not usually known to get into political discussions and arguments.
Sanket Kolhe said that his father had casually forwarded a WhatsApp post to a few of his friends. “To think that such a small thing should cost him his life is beyond comprehension, but there doesn’t seem to be any other reason,” he said.
Kolhe said that according to investigating authorities, the WhatsApp message that his father seems to have forwarded was a “generic one on the lines of ‘I support Nupur Sharma, if you are a Hindu please forward’.”
The BJP last month suspended Sharma for making controversial remarks about Prophet Muhammad during a television debate.
Arti Singh, Amravati City Police Commissioner, told ThePrint, that it came to the city police as a murder case 10 days ago and that the police started ruling out motives until they could confidently say that “prima facile, the Whatsapp post shared by the chemist is likely to be the only motive behind the crime.”
“Information came to the police station that he has been stabbed. It was a blind case, unlike the Udaipur one where the accused recorded a video. It was done behind the dark of the night. We were clueless when we started the investigation. The family was clueless too because they had not received any threats,” she said, adding that the police had never treated it like a robbery case, and always looked at it as a murder.
“We started making arrests right on the second day based on CCTV footage and other clues. As of now, the total number of accused arrested is six,” she said.
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‘Father had no time for such discussions’
Sanket Kolhe said his father spent almost the entire day at his medical store and had little time for anything else.
“He used to be at the store from 8 am to 3 pm, come home for lunch from 3 pm to 6 pm, and then would sit at the store again till 10 pm. He had no time for anything else,” Kolhe said.
“He has never had any fights. He was never one to zealously discuss politics and current issues with his friends and acquaintances or write any social media posts on such issues. This (the contentious WhatsApp message that he allegedly shared) was just something that he would have forwarded innocently without thinking too much about it,” Sanket said.
According to the First Information Report — accessed by ThePrint — the incident took place between 10 and 10.30 pm on June 21. Sanket and his wife Vaishnavi were on their way home with father Umesh Kolhe after closing the chemist shop for the day.
The FIR said that one man was on a motorcycle and two others were standing next to it with knives in their hands. According to the FIR, they blocked Umesh Kolhe’s vehicle and one of the two men stabbed him on the left side of his neck.
The FIR added that Sanket stopped his motorcycle and called out for help, but the accused had fled. Umesh Kolhe was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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