Two more persons have been arrested in the case of the murder of Umesh Kolhe murder that took place in Amravati, Maharashtra, for his social media post supporting Nupur Sharma. One of them is main accused Sheikh Irfan Sheikh Rahim (age 35), while the other is a veterinary doctor who had instigated people against Kolhe.
Mastermind Sheikh Irfan Sheikh Rahim was arrested from Nagpur on 2nd July 2022. The accused runs an NGO and was the one who motivated Shamim and his friends to commit the murder as well as gave them logistical support.
Amravati ACP Aarti Singh said that the interrogation of the main accused Sheikh Irfan is going on. She said Irfan had promised to give Rs 10,000 each to the accused and help them escape safely in a car. 54-year-old deceased chemist Umesh Kolhe was killed in Amravati for allegedly making a social media post in support of suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma on 21st June 2022. Sheikh Irfan is the seventh accused arrested in the case.
Before that, the police had arrested the sixth accused Dr Yusuf Khan Bahadur Khan (age 44) in Amravati on Friday night. Dr Yusuf Khan is a veterinary doctor who runs a clinic in the city. According to police, Khan had circulated a message against Umesh Kolhe on WhatsApp groups. He had written that Kolhe was supporting Nupur Sharma, which provoked the accused in the case who decided to kill the Hindu man. “Khan instigated the other accused,” a police officer said. The doctor was produced before a magistrate who sent him in police custody till July 4.
Maharashtra Police have already arrested five persons in connection with the murder. The accused are Muddasir Ahmed alias Sonu Raja Sheikh Ibrahim (age 22), Shahrukh Pathan alias Badshah Hidayat Khan (age 25), Abdul Taufiq alias Nanu Sheikh Taslim (age 24), Shoheb Khan alias Buriya Sabir Khan, Atif Rashid Adil Rashid (age 22).
While the police was claiming that it was a case of robbery gone wrong, they have finally admited on Saturday that Kolhe was killed for Nupur Sharma. They changed their position after MHA handed over the case to NIA. Many people had expressed doubts over the robbery angle in teh case, including Maharashtra leaders, who were saying that Umesh Kolhe was actually killed for supporting Nupur Sharma. They had pointed out that the accused had no criminal history, which is unlikely for robbers, and also the fact that they took nothing from the victim after killing him, even though he was carrying substantial amount of cash.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Amravati city) Vikram Sali said, “The motive behind the murder is for seeking revenge for the post made by him (Kolhe) in support of Nupur Sharma. Khan had made a post on a WhatsApp group against Kolhe saying he was circulating posts supporting Nupur Sharma. This provoked the accused against Kolhe and they decided to murder him. So, Khan instigated the other accused.”
#WATCH Umesh Kolhe murder case | A total of six accused have been arrested so far from Amravati. During the investigation, we found that Umesh Kolhe had posted on social media in support of Nupur Sharma and this incident took place because of that post: Vikram Sali, DCP Amravati pic.twitter.com/0XRnfWjWXS
— ANI (@ANI) July 2, 2022
On the night of June 21, Umesh Kolhe was murdered. CCTV footage of the incident has surfaced. In this footage, it is seen that three accused killers riding a bike approached Umesh Kolhe when he was returning home from his shop, stopped him, and stabbed him to death near a school building. Umesh Kolhe was going home on his scooter, after shutting down his medical store at around 10 pm. Umesh Kolhe’s son Sanket Kolhe and Sanket’s wife Vaishnavi were also travelling on a separate scooters.
Complainant Sanket Kolhe has mentioned in his police complaint, “We were moving from Prabhat Chowk and our scooters had reached New High School’s gate. Two men on a bike suddenly came in front of my father’s scooter. One of them had a knife in his hand. They stopped my father’s bike and one of them stabbed my father in the neck with the knife. My father fell to the ground and he was bleeding from his neck. I stopped my scooter and started screaming for help. Another man came and the three sat on the bike and fled from the spot.”
Kolhe was taken to a neighbouring hospital with the assistance of others, where he died the same night amid treatment. Within 24 hours, Amravati police apprehended two guys, while three others were later arrested based on an investigation. With the arrests of Dr Yusuf Khan and Sheikh Irfan getting the total number of arrests, in this case, is 7 now. Ten days after Umesh Kolhe’s murder, the National Investigation team has taken over the probe into the case.
