The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in its chargesheet on Amravati killing has said that the 11 accused are ‘radicalised Islamists’ of Tablighi Jamaat.
The Tablighi Jamaat is transnational Deobandi Islamic missionary movement that aims at motivating Muslims be religiously more active.
A 54-year-old pharmacist Umesh Kolhe of Amravati was brutally murdered on June 21 when he was returning from work by three miscreants. This happened just a few days after he posted on WhatsApp supporting BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who had made controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammad.
Now the chargesheet has finally revealed that he was murdered by ‘radicalised Islamists of Tablighi Jamaat’ to take revenge against the insult of Prophet Mohammad.
The NIA had filed the chargesheet last week against the 11 accused and all were affiliated to Tablighi Jamaat. It also claimed that out of those 11 one of the masterminds, Irfan Khan was a strict follower of Jamaat.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, Khan had become president of an NGO Rahebar Helpline, which provides ambulances to the needy. He had become the president with the help of Jamaat followers.
In the court proceedings, the case was termed as a simple case of murder however, the NIA in its chargesheet has claimed, “The act committed by the accused is not just a simple murder but a terror act of a well-planned criminal conspiracy hatched by religiously radicalised Muslim youth to strike a terror into the minds of the people and section of people in Amravati and other states of India.”
It further said that the way in which the 54-year-old man was murdered “shall send shivers down the spine of general population of this peace-loving, democratic country, who would never dare to speak up for what they think is right or wrong.”
