Three people, including a Muslim cleric, have been arrested in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad district for allegedly killing a 27-year-old man, reported The Indian Express on Sunday, citing the police.
Kishan Boliya, was allegedly murdered in Dhandhuka town on Tuesday after he shared a Facebook post, which the police said had “hurt religious sentiments of some people from the minority community”.
The arrested persons have been identified as Mohammad Ayub Javarawala, the cleric, and two other residents of Dhandhuka, Sabbir Chopda and Imtiyaz Pathan. They have been remanded in police custody.
Ahmedabad Superintendent of Police Virendra Singh Yadav said on Friday that preliminary investigations into the killing showed that Chopda had fired at Boliya while riding pillion on Pathan’s motorcycle. Boliya had died on the spot, reported PTI.
“We zeroed in on Shabbir and Pathan after scanning the footage of CCTV [cameras] installed on the route, which showed the duo following Boliya on their motorcycle,” Yadav said. “Shabbir is quite radicalised and was in touch with a Mumbai-based maulvi [religious teacher], who asked him to be in touch with Javrawala.”
The police official said that at a religious gathering attended by Shabbir, Javrawala had allegedly said that Muslims should not spare people who insult Islam.
Yadav said that local Muslims had approached the police after they found a Facebook post shared by Boliya on January 6 offensive. The police then filed a first information report in the case and took action, he said.
“However, Shabbir was not happy with the FIR and police action,” Yadav said. “So, he consulted the cleric [Javrawala] and told him that he needed a weapon to teach Boliya a lesson for sharing that post. Javrawala then gave him a pistol and some cartridges. With the help of his friend Pathan, Shabbir shot Boliya dead on January 25.”
Yadav said that the weapon used in the killing has not been recovered.
Following the killing, Hindutva group Vishva Hindu Parishad had called for a shutdown in Dhandhuka on Thursday. The next day, state Cabinet ministers Harsh Sanghavi and Kiritsinh Rana met members of Boliya’s family.
Sanghvi said that the Ahmedabad Police has formed teams to arrested the accused persons within 24 hours and that the matter has been handed over to the anti-terrorism squad.
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