Exactly a week before tailor Kanhaiyalal Teli was hacked to death in Udaipur, Umesh Prahladrao Kolhe, a 54-year-old chemist, was killed in Maharashtra’s Amravati district on June 21.
Investigators now believe Kolhe was killed allegedly in retaliation for a social media post. Which supported BJP’s Nupur Sharma who had made controversial comments on the Prophet in a TV debate.
Initial investigation by the City Kotwali Police Station in Amravati following a complaint by Umesh Kohle’s son Sanket Kohle led them to arrest two persons Muddsir Ahemad, 22, and Shahrukh Pathan, 25, on June 23. Their interrogation revealed the involvement of four more persons. Out of which three — Abdul Thoufik, 24, Shoaib Khan, 22, and Atib Rashid, 22 — were arrested on June 25. One Shamim Ahmed Firoz Ahmed is absconding.
The incident took place between 10 pm to 10.30 pm on June 21. Umesh Kolhe was on his way home after closing his shop ‘Amit Medical Store’. Sanket, 27, and his wife Vaishnavi were accompanying him on another scooter.
In his complaint, Sanket told the police, “We were moving from Prabhat Chowk and our scooters had reached the Mahila College New High School’s gate. Two men on a motorcycle suddenly came in front of my father’s scooter. They stopped my father’s bike and one of them stabbed him on the left side of his neck with a knife. My father fell and was bleeding. I stopped my scooter and started shouting for help. Another man came and the three fled the spot on the motorcycle.”