BENGALURU: A day after the murder of Hindu Samaj Party founder Kamlesh Tiwari in Lucknow, prime accused Sheikh Ashfaq Hussain had allegedly made frantic calls to another suspect — Sayed Asim Ali in Nagpur — who, in turn, called Mohammed Sadiq Kuppelur in Hubballi saying, “Saheb, mulzim ke surrender ke liye wakil ka intezam karo,” (Sir, arrange for a lawyer for the surrender of the accused). “The calls made by the accused were intercepted by the central intelligence agencies, who immediately alerted the Karnataka and Maharashtra police,” highly placed sources told TNIE.
Based on the “specific” intelligence inputs, the Internal Security Division (ISD) of Karnataka police detained Mohammed Sadiq for questioning in the Tiwari murder case. “Sadiq was questioned and later sent back home. The inputs are being shared with the UP police for follow-up action since it is their case and they are investigating it. Sadiq is now under surveillance,” said an official source.
According to police sources, Sadiq had been arrested in rioting cases in Hubballi in 2009-10. He was later enlarged on bail.
“Sadiq’s alleged links with the other accused in the Tiwari murder case are under scrutiny. All the accused are young men in their 20s. They seem to be self-radicalised. It is too early to establish their links with and the banned terrorist outfits Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) or the Indian Mujahideen (IM),” said the officer.
So far, six people have been arrested in the case — Rashid Ahmed Pathan (23), Faizan (21) and Maulana Salim Sheikh (24) from Gujarat, Maluana Anwar-Ul Haq and Mufti Naeem Kazmin from Bijnor in UP and Sayed Asim Ali (29) from Nagpur in Maharashtra.
The prime accused Ashfaq (21) and Pathan Moinuddin Ahmed (23), who had reportedly shot and slit Tiwari’s throat at his residence in Naka area in Lucknow on October 18 are from Surat. They were arrested on Tuesday evening from near the Gujarat-Rajasthan border.
“There is an element of dare in the way Tiwari was murdered. The killers had left their footprints and the main evidence behind to state the obvious,” said a senior UP cop.
“Rashid was in Dubai for two years. The possibility that he was hired for a targeted killing by the IM leadership cannot be ruled out,” the officer added.
The timing of the murder, close to the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi verdict is also being investigated to verify if Tiwari was made the “scapegoat” to scuttle the long-awaited verdict by creating a communal rift in the country.