Udaipur murder: Centre tells NIA to take over probe

New Delhi, Jun 29: The Centre has asked the National Investigation Agency to take over the probe into the murder of a Hindu tailor in Udaipur.

A team has been sent to Udaipur by the Ministry of Home Affairs after two Muslim men slit the throat of a tailor and then posted a video claiming responsibility for the incident.
Gos Mohammad and Riyaz Akhtari had entered Kanhaiya Lal's shop posing as customers.

A video shows one of them taking measurements who then slits his throat with a cleaver.
Several officials that OneIndia spoke with said that it appears to be a terror attack. It is not an act done in an impulse, but it was a well planned one with the support of foreign agencies to drive fear in the minds of the people.

Following the incident, the two accused persons posted a video and said that they carried out the attack to avenge the 'insult to Islam.' The NIA team once it takes over the probe would look at the larger conspiracy.

There have been clarion calls by groups such as the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda to spread terror in India. Several online videos have called for lone wolf attacks on the Hindus in India and this appears to be a result of that another official said. Moreover the Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have posted videos of beheadings and tried to glorify them. While it is too early to say whether those videos may have inspired these two persons in Udaipur to carry out a similar act, the agencies would need to look into the larger conspiracy into the incident, the official also noted.

Officials have also taken into account that the act in Udaipur is a clear act of violent religious violent extremism. Moreover in the video the two men also hand out a threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and this is also a good reason to rope in the central agency to probe the larger conspiracy behind the incident.

Prima facie it also becomes clear that the attack was not due to personal enmity. To carry out a beheading, post a video of the same and then claim responsibility while reasoning the entire act is a clear act of terror. Their only intention was to created fear in the minds of the Hindu community, the official also noted.