BJP must come clean on allegation of links with Udaipur tailor murder accused: Gehlot

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday asked the BJP to respond to the allegations of its links with one of the people accused in the recent murder of a tailor in Udaipur.The CM said that reportedly one of the accused in the case was once helped by BJP in a police matter.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday asked the BJP to respond to the allegations of its links with one of the people accused in the recent murder of a tailor in Udaipur.

The CM said that reportedly one of the accused in the case was once helped by BJP in a police matter. He said there are reports that the landlord of the accused had once complained to the local police in Udaipur saying that he, the accused, had not been paying rent, but the police was asked to drop the matter by the BJP as he was their worker.

The man in his complaint said that he was often paid threatening visits by some people after he made the complaint, Gehlot said. "Before the police could take action, BJP leaders called up the police station and said that he was their worker and asked them to not trouble him.

"The person who committed such a huge and heinous crime had relations with whom, it has been exposed," Gehlot said without naming anyone. Gehlot said that BJP leaders should issue a clarification on the "connection" of the accused with their party. The CM made the demand at a press conference held here by Yashwant Sinha, a former BJP leader and currently the opposition parties' presidential candidate.

After the murder in Udaipur, some photographs of the main accused, Riaz Akhtari, with some BJP leaders, including leader of opposition Gulab Chand Kataria, had emerged on social media, prompting the Congress to allege that Akhtari was a BJP worker. BJP has since denied the allegation. Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor, was brutally hacked to death by two men in his shop on June 28 in Udaipur's Dhan Mandi police station area over a controversial social media post. The two main accused, Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, shot the act on mobile and later recorded a video claiming responsibility for the murder saying that the man was beheaded for insulting Islam. They shared the videos on social media. Both of them were caught hours later from Rajsamand's Bhim area. A total of seven people have been arrested so far in connection with the case and are currently under the custody of the National Investigation Agency.

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