The Uttar Pradesh Police and the Gujarat Police in a joint operation on Friday detained five people in connection with the murder of Hindutva leader Kamlesh Tiwari in Uttar Pradesh, NDTV reported.
The accused arrested in Gujarat were identified as Maulana Mohsin Sheikh, 24, Rasheed Ahmed Pathan, 23, and Faizan, 21, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police OP Singh said in a press briefing, according to ANI.
Tiwari was attacked inside his office in Khurshidbagh area in Lucknow on Friday. Two of the assailants had tea at his office, then slit his throat. They also took out a pistol from a box of sweets and shot him.
Singh said two people were detained from Uttar Pradesh, but were released after questioning. He added that two other accused are also part of the conspiracy to kill Tiwari, and the police is trying to gather information about them and arrest them.
The police chief said that the three people detained from Gujarat will be questioned and may be remanded in custody and brought to Uttar Pradesh if necessary. Singh added that two other people, identified as Maulana Anwar-ul Haq and Mufti Naeem Kazmi have also been detained and are being questioned.
Singh said it was Pathan who hatched the conspiracy, and Mohsin Sheikh plotted it. The police chief said that Mohsin Sheikh had called for the murder of Tiwari after he made some allegedly objectionable remarks against the Prophet Muhammad. Faizan, on the other hand, worked at a sweet shop, from where he bought the sweets in which a pistol intended to kill Tiwari was hidden.
The police chief said that no connection to any terrorist outfit has been discovered in the case.
Meanwhile, Tiwari’s body was brought to his hometown, Mahmudabad, in Uttar Pradesh, ANI reported. However, his family refused to cremate him until Chief Minister Adityanath pays them a visit. Tiwari’s wife Kiran Tiwari also threatened to set herself on fire.
Tiwari was a controversial figure, and was arrested in 2015 for allegedly making offensive remarks about Prophet Muhammad. The National Security Act was invoked against him. In January 2016, the Uttar Pradesh government passed an order putting Tiwari in detention for a year.
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