On Friday 23rd December 2022, Maharashtra minister Shambhuraj Desai said in the assembly session that the state intelligence department will investigate if former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray directed then-Amravati police commissioner Arti Singh to investigate the killing of Amravati resident Umesh Kolhe through a robbery angle. The Excise Minister of the state said this in response to a demand by independent MLA Ravi Rana seeking an SIT probe into the role of the previous govt in the investigation of the murder of Umesh Kolhe, who was killed by Islamists for supporting Nupur Sharma.
It is notable that immediately after the murder, Amravati police had said that it was a case of robbery gone wrong, and police admitted the Nupur Sharma angle several days later after several people including BJP leaders doubted the police version.
MLA Ravi Rana has urged that the SIT investigate former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s phone conversation with the Amravati police commissioner for purportedly putting pressure on police to divert the course of the investigations into the Umesh Kolhe murder case. Minister Shambhuraj Desai said that the state intelligence department will probe whether there was any pressure from the then CM to suppress the Umesh Kolhe murder case or divert it as a robbery case.
It is notable that Umesh Kolhe – a chemist in Amravati – was murdered by Islamists on the night of 21st June 2022 while returning to his home after closing his shop.
Umesh Kolhe was killed for sharing a WhatsApp post in support of the former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma who had allegedly made insulting remarks against the Prophet Muhammad. Ravi Rana Rana, an independent MLA from Amravati, also urged that the SIT probe Thackeray’s phone conversation with the Amravati police commissioner for allegedly concealing the incident.
In response to a calling attention motion introduced by Rana in the state legislature, Minister Sambhuraj Desai remarked that the state intelligence department (SID) will produce a report on the issue in a fortnight.
Sambhuraj Desai said, “The SID report will be handed over to the Deputy Chief Minister (who holds the home department) and thereafter a suitable decision will be taken. Detailed information about the Umesh Kolhe case will be taken from Ravi Rana as he has objected to the functioning of the Amravati police commissioner.”
Desai added, “It will be probed as to who had called whom and the report will be presented to the state’s home minister.”
Rana, who has been critical of Uddhav Thackeray on a number of topics, including the prohibition on chanting Hanuman Chalisa in front of Matoshree, said that the then-CM, on the request of the Congress politicians, instructed the Amravati police to investigate Kolhe’s murder as a robbery case.
Ravi Rana said, “MP Navneet Rana and I went to Home Minister Amit Shah and told him that the Chief Minister of the state was trying to suppress the matter. Thereafter, the home minister handed over the investigation to the NIA and its probe revealed that Kolhe was killed because of posts in support of Nupur Sharma.”
Umesh Kolhe, the director of Amit Medicals, was riding his motorbike home after shutting his business on June 21 when he was stabbed to death in the Ghantaghar locality of Shyam Chowk in Amravati at around 10:30 pm. In this case, the Kotwali police in Amravati filed a murder case and detained six persons.
The Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis administration transferred the investigation into the issue to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which submitted the chargesheet in the case earlier this month. 11 accused have been named in the charge sheet.
