Tag: NIA

  • NIA makes eighth arrest in Udaipur tailor murder case, 19-year-old man held

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A 19-year-old man, who allegedly played an “important role” in the conspiracy to kill a tailor in Rajasthan’s Udaipur last month, has been arrested from the state, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) official said on Friday.

    Mohammad Javed, a resident of Sindhi Sarkar Ki Haweli, Kheradiwala, was the eighth accused arrested in connection with the gruesome killing of Kanhaiya Lal by two assailants armed with sharp-edged weapons at his shop in Udaipur’s Maldas street, a spokesperson of the NIA said.

    “Mohammad Javed, who was arrested on Thursday, played an important role in the conspiracy to kill Lal by conducting reconnaissance and passing on the information about the victim’s presence at the shop to the main killer, Riyaz, prior to the attack,” he said.

    Lal was killed with a cleaver inside his tailoring shop on June 28 and the NIA took over the case the next day.

    Earlier, seven accused, including the main culprits, were arrested during separate raids on June 29, July 1, July 4 and July 9.

    The gruesome attack by Riaz Akhtari on the tailor was recorded on a mobile phone by Ghouse Mohammad and the video was posted online. In another video, the duo said they hacked Lal to death to avenge an alleged insult to Islam. Both were arrested within hours of the killing.

    NEW DELHI: A 19-year-old man, who allegedly played an “important role” in the conspiracy to kill a tailor in Rajasthan’s Udaipur last month, has been arrested from the state, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) official said on Friday.

    Mohammad Javed, a resident of Sindhi Sarkar Ki Haweli, Kheradiwala, was the eighth accused arrested in connection with the gruesome killing of Kanhaiya Lal by two assailants armed with sharp-edged weapons at his shop in Udaipur’s Maldas street, a spokesperson of the NIA said.

    “Mohammad Javed, who was arrested on Thursday, played an important role in the conspiracy to kill Lal by conducting reconnaissance and passing on the information about the victim’s presence at the shop to the main killer, Riyaz, prior to the attack,” he said.

    Lal was killed with a cleaver inside his tailoring shop on June 28 and the NIA took over the case the next day.

    Earlier, seven accused, including the main culprits, were arrested during separate raids on June 29, July 1, July 4 and July 9.

    The gruesome attack by Riaz Akhtari on the tailor was recorded on a mobile phone by Ghouse Mohammad and the video was posted online. In another video, the duo said they hacked Lal to death to avenge an alleged insult to Islam. Both were arrested within hours of the killing.

  • Udaipur murder: Agencies to conduct analysis of accused phones to confirm Pakistan links

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI/JAIPUR: Security agencies including the NIA, probing the “heinous” murder of a tailor in Udaipur, will conduct an Internet Protocol Detail Records (IPDR) analysis of the phones used by the four accused arrested in the case, officials said on Sunday.

    They said it would help in ascertaining whether there was a radicalisation programme being run by Karachi-based Dawat-e-Islami religious group.

    One of the four accused was linked with the JeI, according to the agencies.

    The Rajasthan Police has, with the help of central security agencies, arrested the four people so far over the murder of Kanhaiya Lal on June 28 inside his tailoring shop.

    The gruesome attack by Riaz Akhtari on the tailor was recorded on a phone by Ghouse Mohammad, and it was posted online.

    They said in a video later that they hacked Lal to death with a cleaver to avenge an alleged insult to Islam.

    Besides these two accused, against whom the evidence is a self-shot video, the security agencies also nabbed two more — Mohsin and Asif — who are alleged to be a part of the conspiracy to spread terror amongst the public at large.

    The officials said that an IPDR analysis would be carried out on their phones to check their activities on the Internet.

    The IPDR helps in tracking the details of a call or message generated by a phone device and includes information like the number from which the call was made, destination port, start and end date and time.

    This technology works with closer proximity in a 2G environment.

    ALSO READ | WATCH | Udaipur murder accused attacked by mob outside court, clothes ripped

    The IDPR correlates the mobile users with other users of encrypted messaging service to make explicit the implicit call graphs in this data, according to a research paper by IIT professor Ranjan Bose, Computer Science student at the University of Maryland Adya V Joshi, who did internship with Delhi Police in 2017-18, and senior IPS officer Madan Oberoi, currently an executive director with Interpol.

    The research paper was submitted by the trio at the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the world’s leading professional organisation having over 4 lakh members from 160 countries during its 4th International Conference on Collaboration and Internet Computing (CIC) in 2018.

    The IPDR analysis also helps in ascertaining the number of times a mobile user has visited a particular website, besides the calls and messages that were made using the internet telephony.

    The probe agencies have also found several Pakistani numbers on their WhatsApp account and said one of the accused was part of the secret groups ostensibly meant for religious activities.

    In one of these groups, it was alleged that Ghouse had been asked to do “something spectacular” to avenge the insult to Islam and the officials believed that this could be the turning point where the ‘barbaric’ act of killing the tailor could have been hatched.

    They said that Mohsin’s place was used for sharpening the cleaver used in the act, while Asif had helped in carrying out the recce of the tailor’s shop.

    The four are the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) till July 12.

    ALSO READ | Photo of Udaipur accused with BJP leader goes viral, party denies connect

    The NIA had on June 29 re-registered the case after taking it over from the Rajasthan police under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

    “NIA has re-registered a case under sections 452, 302, 153(A), 153(B), 295(A) & 34 of IPC and sections 16, 18 & 20 of UA(P) Act, 1967 against accused who have conspired, planned and committed the heinous murder of Shri Kanhaiya Lal Telli on 28.6. 2022 in Udaipur, Rajasthan,” NIA spokesperson had said.

    “The accused persons had also 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,” the spokesperson had said.

    The case was initially registered at Dhanmandi police station in Udaipur.

  • WATCH | Udaipur murder accused attacked by mob outside court, clothes ripped

    By Online Desk

    The two main accused in the Udaipur tailor murder case were attacked by a mob outside the premises of an National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Jaipur on Saturday.

    The accused were thrashed by lawyers and an angry mob outside the court premises while being escorted by police. But the cops quickly put them into a van waiting there.

    Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad were arrested on Tuesday, hours after they allegedly hacked the tailor to death with a cleaver at his shop for extending supporting to now suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma, and posted videos online saying they are avenging an insult to Islam.

    The two others, Mohsin and Asif, were nabbed on Thursday night for being involved in the conspiracy. They were produced before the court here amid tight security arrangements.

    #UdaipurIslamic Terrorists being taken away by police from NIA Court. Just see the anger of public.Yesterday Justice Kant had an opportunity to douse this anger, instead with lose mouth added fuel to fire. If something happens who will be responsible. pic.twitter.com/x5LJenABfL
    — Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) July 2, 2022
    “The court ordered police remand till July 12,” according to a lawyer.

    There were heavy police arrangements on the court premises and several lawyers shouted slogans like “Pakistan Murdabad” and “Kanhaiya ke hatyaron ko fansi do” (give death sentence to Kanhaiya’s killers).

    The clothes of one of the four accused were also torn, and the agitated lawyers raised slogans against Pakistan and demanded capital punishment for them.

    There was heavy security deployment on the premises, but as the accused were being taken out of the court, the group of lawyers attacked them before police personnel somehow managed to hustle them into a waiting prisoner transport vehicle.

    The lawyers shouted slogans such as “Pakistan Murdabad” and “Kanhaiya ke hatyaron ko fansi Do (hang the murderers of Kanhaiya)”.

    Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal was hacked to death on Tuesday by Akhtari and Ghouse who said in a video posted online that they had avenged an insult to Islam.

    Akhtari and Ghouse were arrested by the state police on the day of the incident while Mohsin and Asif were nabbed two days later.

    The latter two have been accused of being involved in the conspiracy and carrying out a recce of Kanhaiya Lal’s tailoring shop.

  • Amravati killing: NIA team visits for probe into chemist’s murder; hunt for prime accused Irfan Khan on

    By PTI

    AMRAVATI: A team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) visited Amravati city in eastern Maharashtra on Saturday for probe into the killing of a chemist after it emerged that the crime might be linked to his social media posts supporting suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma.

    The chemist, Umesh Prahladrao Kolhe (54), was killed on June 21, and Maharashtra police have arrested five persons in connection with the incident.

    Earlier in the day, a Union Home Ministry spokesperson tweeted that the probe of the case has been handed over to the NIA.

    An NIA team has reached Amravati, said a senior police official in Mumbai.

    A team of Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of state police from Aurangabad is also visiting the city, said an official.

    Kolhe’s killing had taken place a week before two men hacked to death a tailor in Rajasthan’s Udaipur before posting videos online saying that they were avenging an insult to Islam.

    The NIA is also probing the killing of the Udaipur tailor, Kanhaiya Lal.

    As per state police, Kolhe was killed between 10 pm and 10.30 pm on June 21 when he was returning home on a two-wheeler after closing his shop.

    “Five persons have been arrested in connection with the murder and search is on to trace prime accused Irfan Khan (32), who runs an NGO,” Amravati commissioner of police Dr Aarti Singh had said earlier.

    “Kolhe ran a medical store. He had allegedly shared a post on some WhatsApp groups in support of Nupur Sharma for her comments (against Prophet Mohammad),” an official of the City Kotwali police station said.

    Khan allegedly hatched a conspiracy to kill Kolhe and roped in five others, promising to pay them Rs 10,000 and safe escape in a car after the killing, he said.

    Police arrested Muddsir Ahemad (22), Shahrukh Pathan (25), Abdul Thoufique (24) Shoaib Khan (22) and Atib Rashid (22), all residents of Amravati and daily wage workers.

    They also seized the knife used in the crime and obtained CCTV footage that captured the sequence of events.

    The BJP on June 5 suspended its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled Delhi BJP media head Navin Jindal after their alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad led to outrage in India and also in some Muslim countries.

  • Udaipur murder meant to spread terror, both accused booked under UAPA: Gehlot

    Official sources said the chief minister has also convened an all-party meeting at his residence at 6 pm on Wednesday over the Udaipur incident.

  • NIA registers case under UAPA in Udaipur killing, says accused wanted to ‘trike terror among masses’

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday registered a case under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the “heinous murder” of a tailor in Rajasthan’s Udaipur by two people who, the agency said, wanted to “strike terror among the masses across the country”.

    A spokesperson for the agency said NIA teams have already reached Udaipur and requisite action for expeditious investigation of the case has been initiated.

    “The accused persons had also 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,” he said.

    ALSO READ | NIA to take over probe into killing of tailor, security stepped up in Udaipur

    He said the case has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the UA(P)A. The case was initially registered at the Dhanmandi police station in Udaipur.”

    NIA has re-registered a case under sections 452, 302, 153(A), 153(B), 295(A) & 34 of IPC and sections 16, 18 & 20 of UA(P) Act, 1967 against accused who have conspired, planned and committed the heinous murder of Shri Kanhaiya Lal Telli on 28.6.2022 in Udaipur, Rajasthan,” the spokesperson said.

    The spokesperson said the two accused had inflicted multiple injuries to the victim with sharp weapons.

  • Udaipur murder: Home Ministry directs NIA to probe international links in tailor’s beheading

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Treating the Udaipur murder as a terror incident, the Centre on Wednesday directed the anti-terror agency, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), to extensively probe the “brutal” murder of a tailor in Rajasthan’s Udaipur district, especially whether any organisation or international links were behind the sensational killing.

    The Home Ministry’s official Twitter handle said “MHA has directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take over the investigation of the brutal murder of Shri Kanhaiya Lal Teli committed at Udaipur, Rajasthan yesterday.

    “The involvement of any organisation and international links will be thoroughly investigated.”

    MHA has directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take over the investigation of the brutal murder of Shri Kanhaiya Lal Teli committed at Udaipur, Rajasthan yesterday.The involvement of any organisation and international links will be thoroughly investigated.
    — गृहमंत्री कार्यालय, HMO India (@HMOIndia) June 29, 2022
    The Home ministry had rushed a probe team on Tuesday night after a preliminary probe suggested that the two accused, arrested by the Rajasthan police, were influenced by the ISIS, a banned terror group.

    The town of Udaipur witnessed a shocking incident on Tuesday, when Riaz Akhtari, one of the accused, slit Teli’s throat with a cleaver, as Ghouse Mohammad, the other accused, recorded the act on a mobile phone.

    In the video clip that circulated on social media, one of the purported assailants declared that they had “beheaded” the man and went on to threaten Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying their knife will get him as well.

    The accused brandished blood-stained cleavers as they issued the threats. Both of them were arrested and taken to an undisclosed location for a thorough interrogation.

    “Prima-facie, it seems to be a terror case and needs a thorough investigation which includes sifting through their social media profiles,” a senior official had said on Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

    Akhtari’s links have been traced to Pakistan-based Dawat-e-Islami, which has its branches in India as well.

    Some of the cadres of the Pakistan-based Dawat-e-Islami have been found to be involved in terror incidents, including the assassination of Pakistan’s Punjab province Governor Salman Taseer in 2011.

    Beheading has been seen to be a common mode of execution in banned terror groups, especially ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

    The gruesome trend saw its beginning in 2014 when several foreigners were killed in a similar fashion by ISIS, which even uploaded the videos of the act on social media.

    During the three-decade-long terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, a beheading case was witnessed in 1995, when a terrorist, belonging to Al-Faran, an assumed name of the banned Harkat-ul-Ansar terror group, severed the head of foreign tourist Hansa Ostro. His body was found near Pahalgam on August 13, 1995.

  • Tailor murder: Union Home Ministry dispatches team of anti-terror agency NIA to Udaipur 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Union Home Ministry on Tuesday night dispatched a team of investigators of the anti-terror probe agency NIA to Rajasthan’s Udaipur in the wake of killing of a tailor there, officials said.

    Two men slit the throat of the tailor and posted a video on social media where they claimed that they are avenging an insult to Islam.

    ALSO READ: Man beheaded in Rajasthan for supporting suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma in social media post

    This triggered communal tension in the Rajasthan city with a curfew being imposed.

    A team of the National Investigation Agency has been sent to Udaipur, officials said here.

    The case is likely to be handed over to the NIA for probe after registration of a case under the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

    Prima-facie it looks like a terror attack, an official said on condition of anonymity.

    The men who allegedly carried out the daylight murder and posted videos online admitting to the crime were taken into custody by police.

    In a video clip, one of the purported assailants declared that they had beheaded the man and then threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying their knife will get him as well.

    Indirectly, the assailants referred to Nupur Sharma, the BJP leader suspended from the party over a remark on Prophet Mohammad.

  • NIA court awards ISIS terrorist 7-year jail term for radicalising youth in Maharashtra

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: A special NIA court here has sentenced an ISIS terrorist to seven years imprisonment for a conspiracy hatched in Syria for radicalising Indian youth through internet wherein they were instructed to fabricate an IED locally.

    Mohammed Shahed Khan, a resident of Parbhani in Maharashtra, was handed down a seven years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 45,000 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Indian Penal Code Act and the Explosive Substance Act, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) spokesperson said.

    The case pertains to the conspiracy hatched by ISIS operatives in Syria for radicalising Indian youth through internet wherein an IED was fabricated locally on their directions, he said.

    The case was initially registered in July 2016 and reregistered by the NIA in September 2016.

    A chargesheet was filed in October, 2016, the spokesperson said.

    An accused, Naser Bin Yafai (Chaus), has already been convicted for seven years rigorous imprisonment by the NIA Special Court, Mumbai on May 6, 2022, in this case, he said, adding further trial in the matter continues.

  • ‘Jack, John and Alpha’: Meet NIA’s witnesses who helped sending Yasin Malik to life imprisonment

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: ‘Jack’, ‘John’ and ‘Alpha’ were among the NIA’s protected witnesses who helped nail banned JKLF chief Yasin Malik.

    These names were given to important protected witnesses, with hidden identities for their safety, in the terror funding case in which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had seized around 600 electronic devices during its raids at 70 places.

    Malik, who had pleaded guilty for the terror funding crimes, was sentenced to life by a Delhi court on Wednesday. There were nearly four dozen protected witnesses but code names were given only to selected few, who could be of help in making a watertight case, officials privy to the developments of the case said.

    The case was probed by a NIA team led by IG Anil Shukla, a 1996-batch IPS officer from AGMUT cadre, with the then Director Sharad Kumar heading the organisation.

    “The verdict is definitely a reward to the hard work of the team that probed the case. I am very much satisfied with the punishment. He (Yasin) played smart by pleading guilty to escape the death sentence. But nevertheless, his sentencing should serve as a deterrent to those even dreaming of waging war against the country,” Kumar told PTI from his home in Gurgaon.

    Shukla, who is now posted in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and is seen as a person who ended stone pelting incidents in Kashmir valley by choking the funds to separatists, had decided to follow the policy of having protected witnesses in the case so that there are no loopholes, the officials said.

    While framing charges against 66-year-old Malik, the special NIA judge had relied on protected witnesses ‘Jack’, ‘John’ and ‘Golf’ among others who mentioned about the meetings between Syed Ali Shah Geelani, now dead, and Malik in November 2016 along with other Hurriyat leaders calling for protests and shutdown.

    Another protected witness had stated that it was Geelani and Malik who used to send him the protest calendar for publicity in newspapers.

    The NIA stressed on confessions statements more as they were recorded before the judicial magistrate where the accused have to confirm that they are giving it without any pressure from the investigating agency.

    While penning down their confession, the whole process was videographed and during the proceedings no investigating officer was present in the court premises. Later, if these accused turned hostile, then the NIA would file a perjury charge against them.

    Countering the much-talked Gandhian path adopted by Malik, the court said at this juncture it has been prima facie found that there existed a criminal conspiracy pursuant to which large-scale protests, resulting in violence and arson at massive scale, were orchestrated.

    “The object, as discussed earlier, was secession of J&K from the union by overawing the government. It has been argued these were intended to be peaceful non violent protests following the Gandhian path. However, the evidence prima facie speaks otherwise. Not only were the protests violent, they were intended to be violent. Even otherwise, prima facie a false claim has been laid to the Gandhian principles,” the court said.

    Citing the Chauri Chaura incident of 1922 when citizens burnt a police station in Gorakhpur killing 22 occupants, the court said Mahatma Gandhi had called off the non-cooperation movement after the incident but the accused, despite large scale violence engulfing the valley, pressed on with these protests.

    “Thus, prima facie they were not following the Gandhian path but their plan was straight from the play book of the likes of Hitler and the march of the brown shirts. The object was to overawe the government by the sheer scale of violence and was nothing less than a plan for insurrection. Thus I find that prima facie there is sufficient evidence that this was also a conspiracy as is punishable u/s 121A IPC,” the court said.

    Brown shirts was the name given to Sturmabteilung (Assault Division), a violent group of Nazis led by Ernst Roehm which sowed seeds of discord in Germany which was emerging as a young but unstable liberal democracy in 1930s.

    The group of goons, mostly retired soldiers, dressed in brown dress, who fought in World War thrived on violent targeting of left wing supporters and jews with a promise to make Germany again. The thug group played an important role in the rise of Hitler as leader of Germany causing social unrest and assaulting “non-aryans” especially jews in the 1930s.