Udaipur tailor murder: Section 144 imposed, internet suspended; NIA team rushed to Rajasthan

Jaipur: The Rajasthan government on Tuesday imposed prohibitory orders and suspended mobile internet service across the state in view of communal tension after the brutal murder of a tailor in Udaipur over his social media in support of suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma.

State’s Chief Secretary Usha Sharma directed officials to suspend mobile internet service across the state for 24 hours and impose section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) - preventing the assembly of more than four people - in all districts of the state for a month.

Leaves of police and administration officials have also been cancelled. Sharma chaired a high-level meeting with senior officers, including Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Abhay Kumar, Director General of Police M L Lather and others, to review the situation.

“The chief secretary has directed all divisional commissioners, inspector generals of police and district collectors to take special vigil across the state,” an official statement said.

Meanwhile, the Centre, which is treating the gruesome killing of a tailor in Udaipur as a terror attack, dispatched a team of the anti-terror probe agency NIA on Tuesday night, the officials said.

Prima-facie it looks like a terror attack, an official said on condition of anonymity, according to PTI.

A team of the National Investigation Agency has been sent to Udaipur, officials said here. The case is likely to be handed over to the NIA for probe after the registration of a case under the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

The men who allegedly carried out the daylight murder and posted videos online admitting to the crime were taken into custody by police. In a video clip, one of the purported assailants said that they had beheaded the man and then threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying their knife will get him as well.

Indirectly, the assailants referred to Nupur Sharma, the BJP leader suspended from the party over a remark on Prophet Mohammad. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday strongly condemned the brutal killing of a tailor in Udaipur over a social media post in support of suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma and blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the rising communal violence in the country.

“It's a sad & shameful incident. There's a tense atmosphere in the nation today. Why don't PM & Amit Shah ji address the nation? There is tension among people. PM should address the public and say that such violence won't be tolerated and appeal for peace,” Rajasthan CM said on the Udaipur murder incident.

The Rajasthan Chief Minister also appealed to the people to maintain peace. "I condemn the heinous murder in Udaipur. Strict action will be taken against all those involved in the crime and the police will go to the bottom of the case. I appeal to all the parties to maintain peace. Strictest punishment will be given to those involved in such a heinous crime," he said.

On Twitter too, CM Ashok Gehlot appealed to people to maintain peace and asked them not to share the videos. "The guilty will not be spared. The entire police team is working on it with full alertness. I can imagine the anger which is there among people due to the murder. We are taking action accordingly," he later told reporters in Jodhpur.

The remarks from the Chief Minister came shortly after a tailor, identified as Kanhaiya Lal, was attacked with sharp-edged weapons and brutally murdered in the Udaipur city of Rajasthan on Tuesday over a Facebook post in support of BJP leader Nupur Sharma who has now been suspended after making a controversial remark on Prophet Muhammad.

The gruesome murder of the victim in broad daylight inside his shop on a crowded street in Udaipur has triggered huge tension in Lake City after the murderers posted a video on social media claiming to ''teach a lesson to the victim'' for putting up a social media post. The video of the gruesome murder has gone viral on social media, which is being termed a ''Taliban-style murder.''

It soon emerged that the middle-aged victim was hacked to death for supporting now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma in a social media post over her controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammed.