On Friday, December 16, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), investigating the murder case of Amravati’s pharmacist Umesh Kolhe, filed a chargesheet in the Mumbai NIA court against the 11 arrested accused. Umesh Kolhen was brutally murdered for a social media post supporting former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, and an elaborate plan was prepared by the culprits to kill him.
Those named in the charge sheet are Mubashir Ahmed, Shahrukh Khan, Abdul Tausheef Sheikh, Mohd Shoeb, Atib Rashid, Yusuf Khan, Irfan Khan, Abdul Arbaz, Musfeeq Ahmed, Sheikh Shakeel, and Shahim Ahmed.
National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a charge sheet against 11 arrested accused in the Mumbai NIA court in connection with the Amravati pharmacist Umesh Kolhe murder case: NIA pic.twitter.com/jGQEJ27wh5
— ANI (@ANI) December 16, 2022
Umesh Kolhe, a pharmacist in Maharashtra’s Amravati city, was murdered by Islamists on June 21 for extending his support to beleaguered politician Nupur Sharma, who drew the ire of Muslim fundamentalists after Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair painted a target behind her for defending her faith in a news debate.
According to the charge sheet, the 11 accused hatched a conspiracy, acquired the murder weapon, plotted their strategy so that the pharmacist’s whereabouts could be traced, and then premeditatedly killed him.
When the murder took place, Maharashtra was under the Uddhav Thackeray government, and the police at that time tried to paint the murder as a robbery gone wrong. But many people saw a similarity with the murder of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur, who was also killed for Nupur Sharma. After pressure from the public, police expanded the probe and revealed that Kolhe was also killed for the same reason.
Later it was revealed that Dr Yusuf Khan, one of the accused, was a good friend of Umesh Kolhe, and Kolhe had helped him with money on several occasions earlier. Dr. Yusuf Khan was the admin of the WhatsApp group in which Umesh Kolhe had shared a post supporting former Nupur Sharma, which led to his murder, as Khan revealed the post to others. According to the probe, Dr Yusuf Khan shared this information with another group called Rahebariya and informed his friends Sheikh Irrfan and others, and created hatred in their minds for Umesh Kolhe.
Sheikh Irrfan recruited others for the job, who had worked under him earlier for an NGO that he runs. Sheikh Irfan involved daily wage workers Shahrukh Pathan, Abdul Taufiq, Shoaib Khan, and Atib Rashid in the plan. On the night of June 21, Shoaib stabbed Umesh Kolhe in his neck when Kolhe was going home after closing his shop for the day.
NIA take over the murder case of Amravati pharmacist Umesh Kolhe, arrests 11 accused
The investigation into Umesh Kolhe’s murder began in Police Station City Kotvali in Amaravati, Maharashtra. On July 2 this year, the NIA re-registered the case and took over the investigation. The case has been registered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) Sections 16, 18, and 20 and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 34, 153 (A), 153 (B), 120 (B), and 302.
Earlier in August, the NIA arrested two more accused in the case. The duo was identified as 23-year-old Abdul Arbaz and 41-year-Maulavi Mushfique Ahmad. The other arrested accused in the case include Irfan Khan (age 35), Yusuf Khan (age 44), Muddsir Ahmad (age 22), Shahrukh Pathan (age 25), Abdul Thoufique (age 24) Shoaib Khan (age 22), and Atib Rashid (age 22).
On September 12, the NIA declared a monetary reward of Rs 2 lakh to anyone who would provide leading information to arrest the absconding accused Shameem Ahmed. On September 22 it was reported that NIA arrested the absconding killer from Mumbai.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) received a 90-day extension from a special court in the same month to submit the charge sheet in the case, which the agency did today.
