Udaipur murder: Rajasthan BJP minority wing denies Congress allegation, says accused not linked to party

After a photo showing Riaz Akhtari with some local BJP leaders of Udaipur emerged, Mohammad Sadiq Khan, state president of the BJP Minority Morcha, said the photo cannot be a held as a proof.

BJP leaders take out a rally during a 'bandh' called by various Hindu organisations to protest against the murder of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur. (Photo | PTI)

JAIPUR:The BJP Minority Morcha in Rajasthan on Saturday refuted the allegation levelled by the Congress that the main accused in the Kanhaiya Lal murder case in Udaipur was a BJP member.

After a photo showing Riaz Akhtari with some local BJP leaders of Udaipur emerged, Mohammad Sadiq Khan, state president of the BJP Minority Morcha, said the photo cannot be a held as a proof to show he is a party member.

Khan said the Congress wanted to shift the blame on the saffron party in order to divert public attention from the "failure of the Ashok Gehlot government", which he alleged did nothing for minorities in three-and-a-half years.

"Anyone can have a photo with any leader. It does not mean that he is a member of the BJP," Sadiq told reporters.

"He might have gone to some programme of the party to carry out a recce and got photos clicked with local leaders. Since it is a normal trend to upload photos with leaders or celebrities on Facebook and other social media platforms, he might have also uploaded the photo but it does not mean that he is a BJP member," Sadiq said.

The BJP leader said the murder highlights the state government's failure as it did not provide security to Kanhaiya Lal despite a clear threat.

Sadiq said Akhtari's vehicle number was "2611", which he obtained by choice in 2013, and this indicated his radical ideology.

Earlier in the day, the Congress alleged that Akhtari is a "BJP member" and sought to know whether the Centre had moved quickly to transfer the case to the NIA due to this reason.

Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor, was killed on Tuesday afternoon by two cleaver-wielding men, who posted a grisly video of the crime online claiming responsibility for the murder.

Akhtari and another accused Ghouse Mohammad were arrested hours after the incident while fleeing on a motorcycle.

Two more people, who were allegedly involved in a recce of Kanhaiya's shop and in the alleged conspiracy to kill him, were also arrested later on.