Police Find Blood-Stained Knife In Kamlesh Tiwari Murder Case; What We Know So Far

Two days after a joint team of Uttar Pradesh Police, Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad and Gujarat Police detained the three accused – Rashid, Mohsin and Faizan – from Surat in connection to the Kamlesh Tiwari murder case, a fourth accused, identified as Sayyed Asim Ali, was arrested by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) from Nagpur. Ashfaq Hussain and Moinuddin Pathan, who are suspected to have actually committed the murder, are absconding.

The cops on Sunday, October 20, have recovered a blood-stained knife, saffron garment, and blood-stained towel from a room of Hotel Khalsa where the two murder accused stayed.

According to the UP Police investigating the case, the Hindu Samaj Party leader was murdered by two people who had come to visit him at his office-cum-residence in the Naka area of Lucknow. Tiwari’s throat was slit and he was shot multiple times by the assailants. Tiwari died while on his way to the hospital.

In 2015, Tiwari had allegedly made objectionable remarks against Prophet Muhammad. The incident had triggered a furore among the Muslim population in the country, leading to countrywide protest. Tiwari was arrested for the remarks and the National Security Act (NSA) was slapped on him. Recently, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court revoked the NSA against him.

How One Of The Accused Befriended Kamlesh Tiwari

Special Task Force (ATS) sources have said that one of the accused, Ashfaq, created a Facebook profile with the name ‘Rohit Solanki’, and befriended Tiwari online. Ashfaq would have conversations with the deceased leader through the fake Facebook ID.

Before the murder, during one such conversation between the two, Ashfaq had said that he wished to join the organization. Following this conversation, a meeting between Ashfaq and Tiwari was fixed, consequently leading to the brutal murder.

The Series Of Events

The Senior Superintendent of Police, Lucknow, said that the three had a discussion on the first floor of the office and also had tea together. After murdering Tiwari, the two fled from the spot. Tiwari’s wife has also lodged an FIR against two clerics of Bijnor mosques, accusing them of murder and criminal conspiracy.

During the initial investigation, the police had recovered a pistol and an empty cartridge from the spot. They have also recovered a pack of sweet bought from Surat. The crime branch of Surat contacted the shop owner. Director-General of UP Police O.P. Singh in a press conference on Friday ruled out the terror angle with the murder.

“Prima facie it seems that Tiwari was murdered due to his controversial statement made in 2015,” the DGP said.

#WATCH OP Singh, UP DGP on #KamleshTiwariMurder: Prima facie this was a radical killing, these people were radicalized by the speech that he (Kamlesh Tiwari) gave in 2015, but much more can come out when we catch hold of the remaining criminals. pic.twitter.com/kJ19yoBLh5

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 19, 2019

The two had booked the room as Sheikh Ashfaq Hussain and Pathan Moinuddin Ahmed and had carried a Surat identity card. Both of them arrived at the hotel on October 17 at 11:08 pm and left the hotel at 10:38 am the next day (Friday). Both of them returned to 1:21 pm and left the hotel at 1:37 pm.

The manager of the hotel, Arvind Chaurasia, after seeing the video footage of both the assailants on television, informed to the cops. The manager contacted both the assailants but found their phones switched off.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Cheif Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that the truth about Tiwari’s murder is “almost out.” He also rebutted the claims of Tiwari’s mother that a local BJP leader was involved in her son’s killing over a land dispute.

What Is Kamlesh Tiwari’s Mother Saying?

Tiwari’s mother Kusum, who met Yogi Adityanath on October 20, has also claimed that her family was forcibly brought to meet the UP CM. She said that the meeting with the CM was not helpful and claimed that they will pick swords if justice is not served to them, reported India Today.

She also claimed that the cops had constantly pressurized them to meet the CM. She rejected to believe that the cops have solved the murder and said that her family was betrayed by the state administration.

“The police will parade some innocent persons and say these are the ones who killed my son, while give protection to the mafia. What will the administration do when they are the ones who betrayed us,” she said.

“Agar prashashan ne dhyan dekar unko surakhsha di hoti to jo aaj ghatana hui hai, wo nahi hoti. Hamara beta bach jata (Had the government provided adequate security to my son, this tragedy would not have taken place and he would have been alive today).”

#KamleshTiwari mother after meeting CM Yogi.

“In our society, kins (after any death) don’t go out for 13 days. But many cops came & forced us to go meet CM at his residence…CM’s body language was not what we expected.

Will pick up sword if justice not done”
VC:@sengarlive pic.twitter.com/6wSvhVuXe8

— Kanchan Srivastava (@Ms_Aflatoon) October 20, 2019

“What can we expect from this government? Nothing,” she added.

Kusum Tiwari claimed that despite her son getting repeated threats, the government ignored the issue. “We submitted several applications before the state government seeking adequate security cover, we even approached the court, but no one took us seriously,” she said.

As investigations continue, OP Singh, Director-General of Police (UP), later refused to rule out a terror angle, something that he seemed to do initially. “See… there are many kinds of terror modules. There are self-motivated modules. There are sleeper modules. There are modules connected to terror outfits. We are looking at this from all angles. When we arrest the other accused we will know the truth,” DGP OP Singh told NDTV.

Also Read: Andhra Pradesh: Minor Girl Murdered For Eloping With Dalit Teen, Four Family Members Arrested