Day after Amravati MP Navneet Rana demanded action against city police commissioner Arti Singh for initially saying Umesh Kolhe’s killing was linked to robbery, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said it will be probed how the incident was portrayed as theft. He said the killing incident in Amravati was very serious and that the NIA was probing if there was any international connection. He called the killing barbaric. “Accused and the mastermind have been nabbed. The NIA is investigating it, finding if there is some international connection. This was initially portrayed as theft, that too will be investigated,” he said.
Kolhe, a chemist, was killed on June 21 by three persons in Amravati. Intiallly, the police suspected robbery angle and probed in that direction. However, later it was found that the killing was similar to what happened in Udaipur, where a tailor was beaheded by two Muslims for allegedly forwarding a social media post backing Nupur Sharma.
The Amravati Rana on Saturday said that for the first 12 days the police kept saying that it was case of robbery. However, she said, when she wrote to Union Minister Amit Shah, the police said it was a case of hate killing.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday handed over the investigation of the case to the NIA. “The conspiracy behind the killing, involvement of organisations and international linkages would be thoroughly investigated,” it said.
