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How Uddhav Thackeray’s Maharashtra govt tried to cover up murder of Hindu pharmacist Umesh Kolhe

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The NIA has found a similar pattern in the murder of Lal and Kolhe. There were Dawah squads involved in both the cases, which had ordered a hit on the two of them

New Delhi, Dec 24: The Maharashtra government has ordered a probe into whether former chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray had tried to influence the investigation into the killing of Umesh Kolhe in Amaravati.

Pharmacist Umesh Kolhe was killed by Muslim fundamentals on June 21 for sharing a message defending now suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.

Umesh Kolhe

While responding to a calling attention motion by independent MLA Ravi Rana, Maharashtra minister, Shamburaje Desai told the state assembly that the State Intelligence Department will investigate the matter whether Thackeray had asked the police commissioner of Amaravati Arti Singh to examine the robbery angle in the killing of Kolhe.

Radical Islamists forced many including Umesh Kolhe case witness to post 30-second apology videosRadical Islamists forced many including Umesh Kolhe case witness to post 30-second apology videos

The cover-up:

Following the killing of Kolhe the police began probing it as an incident of robbery. While it could have been hushed up as a murder for gains, the Intelligence Bureau had launched a probe to find out whether there was a hush up.

The point of contention in the Kolhe murder case was why was the Rs 35,000 that he was carrying intact after he was killed. While the agencies maintained that Kolhe was killed by radical Islamists, the Maharashtra police under the Uddhav Thackeray government which was supported by Sharad Pawar's NCP and Sonia Gandhi's Congress probed it as a robbery case.

It was only once the government changed with the fall of the Thackeray government did the real picture come out. Back in July itself an agency official told OneIndia that Kolhe was murdered because he supported Nupur Sharma. The theory of robbery which the police were probing fell flat on day one when it was found that the money being carried by Kolhe was intact. Had the motive been robbery there was no reason for them to leave the money intact at the spot, considering that none were present in the vicinity for the killers to escape from in a hurry.

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NIA probe:

The chargesheet by the National Investigation Agency which is currently probing the case clearly states that this was an act of vengeance by the radical Islamists. The chargesheet does not anywhere mention that the murder was undertaken with robbery in mind.

Killing of Umesh Kolhe puts focus on Islamic Darul Khada which supercedes Indian police, judiciaryKilling of Umesh Kolhe puts focus on Islamic Darul Khada which supercedes Indian police, judiciary

The NIA speaks about a pattern involved in the killing and has clearly listed the reason for the murder. During the probe and the analysis of the mobile phones of the accused, it was clearly found that these persons had been radicalised and were ordered to kill Umesh Kolhe.

A similar pattern was found in the murder of Kanaihya Lal Teli, a Hindu tailor from Udaipur. He too had expressed support for Nupur Sharma and unfortunately lost his life at the hands of these radical Islamists. In the Udaipur case, the Pakistan link to cropped up. The NIA said that the killers had visited Pakistan in 2014 at the invitation of the Data-e-Islami.

The role of hit-squads or Dawah squads in both cases had come up. It was found that the Islamic or Dawah courts had ordered the killing of both Lal and Kolhe.

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