On Wednesday, August 24, a Hindu tailor named Narendra Kumar Saini in Uttar Pradesh’s Muffazarnagar district received a threat letter from an unidentified person in which the latter threatened to kill Saini in the same way that Islamists killed Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal.
Muzaffarnagar police took to Twitter on Thursday to announce that the Kotwali Nagar PS had taken cognizance of the case and registered a case against an unknown person under relevant sections of the IPC.
प्रकरण के सम्बन्ध में थाना कोतवाली नगर पर सुसंगत धाराओं में अभियोग पंजीकृत कर आवश्यक वैधानिक कार्यवाही की जा रही है।
— MUZAFFARNAGAR POLICE (@muzafarnagarpol) August 25, 2022
According to reports, Saini has a shop in the name of Akshay Tailors in Goshala Market located on Shamli Road in the city Kotwali area. On Wednesday morning at around 10 am, when he opened his shop, he saw the envelope lying on a table inside the shop. When he opened the envelope, he found the letter that read in Hindi, “Akshay…you pretend to be a huge patriot. Nupur is just an excuse… you will be targeted just like Kanhaiya…you won’t be spared…run if you can.”
Meanwhile, Saini, who was terrified after reading the letter, informed his nearby shop owners about the same. He then dialled the Uttar Pradesh police helpline number 112 and informed them of the situation.
Following the information, Kotwali police went to Saini’s shop and took possession of the alleged threat letter. Speaking about the incident, CO City Kuldeep Kumar Singh said that police have started investigating that case by registering a case against unknown persons. He also said that the police are scanning the CCTV footage of the area and questioning people in the neighbourhood to get some lead in that case.
Murder of Kanhaiya Lal
On June 28, a Hindu tailor named Kanhaiya Lal was brutally beheaded in Udaipur, Rajasthan by two Islamists who later made a video justifying the act as per Islamic Sharia law. He was killed over an alleged social media post in which he had supported former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma. As per reports, his neighbour Nazim had filed a complaint against him, following which he was arrested by the Police. Kanhaiya Lal was later released on bail.
Nazim also leaked Kanhaiya Lal’s number, photograph, and address to his community groups. Kanhaiya Lal continued to receive threat calls and messages. Fearing for his life, Kanhaiya Lal shut his shop for six days and approached Police for protection. Instead of giving him protection, the Police asked him to compromise with the Islamists who were threatening him.
After six days, when he opened his shop, two Islamists came as customers and beheaded him. The two attackers, identified as Mohammed Riyaz Akhtar and Mohammed Gos, were arrested by the Police. National Investigation Agency is currently investigating the case.
