A 27-year-old Hindu youth Kishan Bharwad was killed by Islamists on 25th January 2022, merely for being a Hindu. Kishan Bharwad hailed from Dhandhuka in Ahmedabad. He was killed in the morning when he was passing by the Modhwada locality on a two-wheeler. Like other killings by Islamists, the reason behind his murder was that the Muslims claimed he had hurt their religious sentiments and committed “blasphemy”.
Background of Kishan Bharwad and so-called blasphemy
Kishan Bharwad was a youngster who loved cows. He would help his family earn their livelihood as he worked in the photocopy shop and the farm. Kishan was a simple boy leading a simple life. In January 2022, he shared a social media post. It was a short audiovisual file in which Jesus appeared as the ‘son of the God’, Prophet Muhammad appeared as ‘the messenger of the God’ whereas Lord Shrikrishna was shown to be ‘the God’. Within 30 minutes of sharing this video, Kishan Bharwad began to receive threat calls because he hailed his own faith and that did not sit well with Islamists.
Kishan Bharwad apologized
A mob of around 1000 Muslims reached the local police station demanding strict action against Kishan Bharwad. The mob beat Kishan Bharwad despite a complaint being filed. Kishan Bharwad had reached the police station to appear before the police officer. As some policemen were also involved in beating Kishan Bharwad, he furnished an apology in writing as well as in video format.
The mob was not satisfied with this. Three days later, he got a call from the police station as another FIR was filed against him and he was arrested. His father got him out on bail the very next day and suggested he be away from the village for some days. Kishan then stayed at his uncle’s place for a few days.
Kishan Bharwad was killed before he could see his new-born daughter
Just a day after Kishan Bharwad was put in jail, his wife underwent a caesarian section and gave birth to a baby girl. Kishan never got to see his daughter’s face, as he was killed the same day he returned to his village to see his daughter. According to an eyewitness, the two men who fired at Kishan were riding behind him and at a turning at Modhwada, they fired their first shot. However, they missed it and then they fired again. He died on the spot.
The family refused to accept the mortal remains of Kishan. However, prominent members of society and Hindu organisation members intervened and spoke to the police which assured proper investigation and only then the family accepted Kishan’s mortal remains. The cremation of his mortal remains was carried out amongst heavy police security.
Heavy protests after murder of Kishan Bharwad
Abided by the Jihad cry ‘Gustakh-E-Rasul ki ek hi saja, sar tan se juda’, the murder of Kishan Bharwad was executed because he had allegedly shared a post about Muhammad on social media which Muslims considered “blasphemous”. Several citizens and activists in Gujarat had come out on the streets in big numbers in different cities like Ahmedabad’s Dhandhuki, Ratanpur, and Vadodara to protest this Jihadi agenda taking place in Gujarat and to demand justice for the murdered Hindu youth.
People also demanded the central government take serious note of this matter and investigate the case in order to restrict such activities allegedly done with the help of funds from Pakistan.
Initial arrests of Maulavis who supplied weapons
On Thursday, 27th January 2022, the Ahmedabad Police arrested two persons after discovering links of two Maulvis in the murder case of 27-year-old Kishan Bharwad on January 25. The murder was carried out on instructions of two Maulvis, one from Ahmedabad and another one from Mumbai. A Maulvi from the Jamalpur area of Ahmedabad had provided weapons to the murderers and Maulana from Mumbai had given the instructions. The murder case took a far more sinister turn on 29th January 2022 when a Pakistani political party’s link, in this case, was revealed.
The Pakistan connection in the Kishan Bharwad murder case
Kishan Bharwad’s murder case had links to a Pakistan-based organization Tahrik-E-Namus-E-Risalat. This organization was earlier known as Tahrik-E-Faroukh-E-Islam. This Islamist outfit is reportedly directly connected to a Pakistani political party Tahrik-E-Labbaik, which is known for its extremist Islamic ideology. Tahrik-E-Labbaik’s leader Khadim Rizvi is a Pakistani Islamist who promotes the fundamentalist doctrine of the Barelvi sect. The organization is allegedly involved in executing the Pakistani agenda of Jihad in Gujarat and Kishan Bharwad’s murder was seen as one such incident.
More arrests in Kishan Bharwad murder case revealed the bigger conspiracy
Hours after the Pakistan connection was reported in the Kishan Bharwad murder case, police suspected the involvement of a total of 6 Muslim clerics in the gruesome murder of the Hindu man. It was revealed from the interrogation of arrested Maulavi Ayub and social media trails the police were probing that before Kishan Bharwad’s murder, there was a plan on the anvil to kill another youth from Jamnagar for committing “blasphemy” against Islam. The entire network was set up to teach a lesson to those who post on social media and preparations for the planned murders had also started. Azim Basir Sama, a resident of Dudhsagar Road in Rajkot had given weapons. The police also nabbed the shooters who actually executed the murder.
Weapon used in the murder found near a Dargah
The pistol and bike that were used to kill Kishan Bharwad were found in the area near Sir Mubarak Bukhari Dada dargah in Dhandhuka by Gujarat Police. Shabbir and Imtiyaz, the shooters, helped the police reach the location behind the Dargah. Both were riding a motorbike on January 25 with the purpose to kill Kishan Bharwad. Shabbir fired shots at Kishan while Imtiyaz was riding the bike.
Shooters already had another target
During the investigation of the Kishan Bharwad murder case, Gujarat ATS unearthed another conspiracy hatched by the accused Shabbir and Maulana Ayub Jawrawala of Jamalpur. As per the ATS officials, they had planned to kill a man identified as Sajan Odedara from Porbandar in May 2021. However, they could not locate Sajan in Porbandar. In May 2021, Sajan Odedara, a resident of Porbandar, had allegedly made objectionable remarks about Prophet Mohammad. Following the alleged remarks. An FIR was filed against him. He had spent two months in jail as well.
Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani’s arrest
Shabbir and Imtiyaz revealed in their investigations that they were inspired by Maulana Qamar Gani’s speech that took place in Surat in 2021. Gujarat ATS arrested Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani from Delhi in connection to the murder case of Kishan Bharwad. Usmani is associated with Tahreek Farogh-e-Islami or TFI. Last year, he was arrested in the Tripura riots case as well. Shabbir told Police that Usmani had told him that if he found anything blasphemous, it was his right to pick up weapons and take action. Prior to his arrest by the Gujarat Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) in connection to the gruesome murder of Kishan Bharwad, Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani urged Islamists to continue to ‘defend’ the honour of Prophet Muhammad without any semblance of fear.
Terror training network of Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani
The investigations revealed that the accused Maulana Qamar Gani Usmani of Delhi was operating a social media team that would run numerous accounts on various social media platforms to attract vulnerable Muslim youth to the fanatic Islamic network. It was the same youths who were later being used to execute the target killings of the Hindus like Kishan Bharwad who used to post the so-called blasphemous content on social media.
More targets in the list
Investigating agencies found profiles of as many as 26 people who were the targets of this Jihadi network. The list included Yati Narsinghanand of Dasna temple in Ghaziabad and Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, formerly known as Wasim Rizvi, BS Patel, Pankaj Arya, Pushpendra Kulshreshtha, Mahendrapal Arya, Rahul Arya, Radheshyam Acharya, Updesh Rana, Upasana Arya, Sajan Odedara, and RSN Singh. These profiles were found from Maulana Ayub’s phone.
ધંધુકા કિશન હત્યા કેસમાં થયા મોટા ખુલાસા,તપાસ એજન્સીઓને મૌલાના ઐયુબના મોબાઈલમાંથી 26 લોકોની પ્રોફાઈલ મળી આવી.ઉપરાંત અનેક માહિતી મળી આવી જૂઓ pic.twitter.com/lrgC7W8MsZ
— News18Gujarati (@News18Guj) February 7, 2022
Jihadi material distributed to Muslim youths
The arrested Maulana Ayyub had printed 1500 copies of a book titled ‘Jajba-e-Shahadat’ to distribute among the Muslim youths of Gujarat in order to brainwash the young minds and inspire them for Jihad. This book contains Islamist assertions and it was distributed for free to the youths who came in contact with Maulana Ayub. It was also found in the investigation that Maulana Qamar Gani, another accused in the case, had visited and stayed in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat where he brainwashed many youths.
The Hawala network for terror funding
The ATS investigation has concluded that donations in huge numbers were being collected through the donation boxes. This money would then be sent to Pakistan and then from Pakistan to Dubai. These donation amounts would be brought back to Gujarat via the hawala network and used to propagate the Jihadi agenda and fund brainwashing activities. In Ahmedabad alone, there were 2000 such donation boxes active at various religious places. The money brought back from the hawala connection would be given to Dawat-e-Islami which is a so-called Islamic education organization. But in reality, this fund would be used to brainwash the Muslim youth in the state using social media.
Pakistan’s Dawat-E-Islami has 2000 donation boxes alone in Ahmedabad!
— Harshil Mehta (@MehHarshil) February 2, 2022
This is claimed by the Ahmedabad police. Shocking. pic.twitter.com/maBoc7TI4M
Kishan Bharwad murder case revealed many such facts about the Jihadi mentality being cultivated in the country which has become a serious threat to the life and freedom of Hindus. Talking anything about Islam or the Prophet Muhammad sufficed to attract death threats.
Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) former spokesperson Nupur Sharma quoting hadiths from Islamic scripture in a TV debate was also seen as an alleged blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad. Even people supporting Nupur Sharma on social media were beheaded by the Islamists. Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur and Umesh Kolhe in Amravati were murdered by Islamists. In this way, supporting the freedom of speech of someone accused by Islamists of alleged blasphemy became a reason to attract a brutal attack on oneself. Threatening someone to face consequences like Kanhaiya Lal was a frequent phenomenon after his murder.
But this was not seen for the first time in Nupur Sharma’s case. Much before that, people protesting the murder of Kishan Bharwad in Chhota Udaipur of Gujarat were also attacked by a mob of Islamists. Many people in Gujarat were also threatened in a similar way saying that they would also meet a fate like that of Kishan Bharwad.
