On Thursday, the accused who had brutally murdered Umesh Kolhe in June this year for allegedly supporting BJP ex-spokesperson Nupur Sharma on social media, have filed an application in the NIA court to shift from Arthur Road jail to another jail. The accused have stated that there is a threat to their life in Arthur Road jail.
According to the reports, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the jail authorities have raised no objection to the application. The application by the accused have been filed a day after one of them named Shahrukh was allegedly beaten up by some of the other prisoners in the jail. The case has also been registered by the Police against the prisoners who led the attack on Pathan.
Umesh Kolhe murder case | Accused have filed application in NIA court to shift them from Arthur Road jail to another jail stating a threat to their life after one of the accused Shahrukh Pathan was beaten up by other inmates. Jail authorities & NIA have no objection
— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2022
Umesh Kolhe, a pharmacist in the eastern Maharashtra city of Amravati, was stabbed to death on June 21 while coming home after shutting his store. The 54-year-old was killed for reportedly sharing a post on several WhatsApp groups in favour of now-suspended BJP spokesman Nupur Sharma’s alleged inflammatory statements against Prophet Mohammad.
Pathan is one of seven persons detained in the case by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). All of the accused are being held in Arthur Road Prison. Earlier this month, the anti-terror bureau, which took over the investigations from the Amravati cops, had brought two of the 7 suspects from Mumbai to Amravati and recreated the series of events that led to the killing of Kolhe. The NIA has already taken custody of all seven defendants in the case including Shaikh Irfan Shaikh Rahim who is the primary accused in the case.
The governmental agency had earlier informed the in-charge NIA court in Mumbai that the case was extremely serious and had national and international consequences. According to the NIA, there was incremental material against the accused to indicate they were participating in terrorist operations.
Also, earlier it was reported that the murder was pre-planned and that the accused had done the recce of the place before the murder. The Police during the investigation gained the CCTV footage which revealed that three accused dressed in black had done the recce of the place. In another footage, the three accused were seen heading toward the spot to execute the murder.
All the accused identified as Sheikh Irfan, Yusuf Khan, Abdul Taufiq, Mudassir Ahmed, Shoaib Khan, Atib Rashid, and Shahrukh Khan Pathan have been detained by the Police. The NIA and the jail authorities have not objected to the ‘shift of jail’ application filed by the accused. However, it is not clear yet to which jail will the accused be shifted.
