3 arrested day after UP Hindu outfit leader Kamlesh Tiwari’s murder in Lucknow

Three men have been arrested and two clerics questioned in connection with the murder of Hindu outfit leader Kamlesh Tiwari, UP’s director general of police OP Singh said on Saturday.

DGP OP Singh said the murder of 52-year-old Kamlesh Tiwari, the founder of the Hindu Samaj Party, was a fallout of “communal hate”.

The arrests have come less than 24 hours of the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari by two unidentified men in Lucknow’s Khursheed Bagh on Friday afternoon.

“UP police traced the conspirators through the bill of sweets purchased from a sweet shop in Surat with the help of Gujarat’s anti-terror squad,” Singh said while talking to reporters in Lucknow.

WATCH | Kamlesh Tewari murder: 3 arrested; UP DGP calls it ‘a radicalised operation’

“A total of five people were involved in the murder. Three conspirators have been arrested while efforts are to search two others, who executed the killing,” he added.

The three arrested men have been identified as Maulana Sheikh Salim, 24, a worker at a saree shop, Faizan, a 21-year-old shoe shop worker, and tailor Rashid Ahmad alias Rashad Pathan, 23.

Singh said Maulana Sheikh Salim radicalised the other four men by showing a video of Kamlesh Tiwari’s hate speech against Muslims in 2015.

Rashid hatched the murder plan while Faizan was the person who purchased sweets from the Surat shop, according to Singh. Faizan was spotted on footage from the CCTV of the sweet shop, he added.

The same box was used by the two executors to carry weapons to commit Kamlesh Tiwari’s killing.

The police’s initial investigation into the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari had on Friday hinted that the two attackers had links with Gujarat, as they had brought weapons in a box of a famous sweet shop in Surat.

A pistol, which was recovered from the crime spot, and a knife used to slit the victim’s throat were in the same box, suggested the police probe.

Two executors, whose names have not been revealed yet, live in Surat but have links in Uttar Pradesh.

The two clerics from Bijnore named by Kamlesh Tiwari’s wife Kiran in her police complaint have also been questioned, the senior police official said. But, he said, their involvement has not been established so far.

Kiran Tiwari had said in her complaint to the police that Mohammad Mufti Naem Kazmi and Imam Maulana Anuvarul Haq were involved in her husband’s murder.

These clerics had announced a bounty of ₹51 lakh for beheading Kamlesh Tiwari after his hate speech in 2015.

The DGP ruled out any terror link to the murder.

“We are working in collaboration with the Gujarat anti-terrorism squad (ATS). Till now no link with any terrorist organisation has been established. We will look into all the details and take action,” he said.

The state government has constituted a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had also sought a detailed report on the incident from the additional chief secretary (home) Awanish Awasthi and DGP Singh.

‘Won’t cremate body’

Kamlesh Tiwari’s family have taken his body to their native place in Mahmudabad in Sitapur.

News agency ANI reported that they have said they won’t cremate his body until chief minister Yogi Adityanath pays them a visit. His wife Kiran has even threatened to set herself on fire, according to ANI.

Family members and locals initially told the police that Tiwari was shot as well as stabbed by the attackers, who were wearing saffron kurtas. Police officials later said no bullet wound had been found on his body and that he died of stab wounds.

Lucknow’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) Kalanidhi Naithani said the police team had managed to retrieve CCTV footage of the two suspects and multiple teams had been deployed to nab the assailants.

Kamlesh Tiwari’s murder led to outrage on social media and some Hindu outfits staged a protest in Lucknow to demand arrest of the killers.

Several saints in Ayodhya also expressed concern over the murder of Kamlesh Tewari. The Ayodhya Sant Samaj and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have demanded proper probe in the incident and capital punishment of killers.

One of Tiwari’s close friends Sushil Bajpai said Tiwari had been associated once with the Hindu Mahasabha but he quit the organisation and formed the Hindu Samaj Party in January 2017.