Kanhaiya Lal murder: NIA special court grants bail to accused Farhad Mohammad

New Delhi, Sept 2: In a shocking development in Kanhaiya Lal murder case, a special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Jaipur granted bail to Farhad Mohammad alias Babla. He was arrested in connection with the murder of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Rajasthan’s Udaipur last year. The NIA has chargesheeted Farhad under sections of the Arms Act.

 

 

 

Kanhaiya Lal was murdered last year for allegedly sharing a social media post on the Prophet made by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Two other people, both Pakistani nationals, have also been chargesheeted by the NIA and are yet to be arrested.

 

The accused Farhad Mohammad’s counsel, Akhil Chaudhary, claimed Farhad was not involved in the killing of Kanhaiya Lal and that the sword recovered from him was a blunt one. He claimed that Farhad Mohammad and his family are artisans involved in meenakari, a process of painting and colouring metal and ceramic tile surfaces. Mohammad and his family painted and decorated such things and sold them in local marketplaces, according to the counsel, and Mohammad was not charged with UAPA or criminal conspiracy.

 

 

Farhad Mohammad was apprehended after a sword was recovered from his possession last year and purchased the sword in a khadi mela a long time back and it was a blunt sword.

 

The NIA’s Special Public Prosecutor, TP Sharma, contested the bail plea, noting the discovery of the sword and argued that he had joined a protest gathering against the then BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and raised inflammatory slogans.

 

Farhad’s lawyer, on the other hand, stated that his client had attended the protest but he was not leading the said protest.

 

Farhad, 31, was charged by the NIA under Section 4/25 (1B) (b) of the Arms Act of 1959. Following Farhad’s arrest in July of last year, the NIA issued a statement stating that Farhad was a close associate of the main killer, Riyaz Attari, and was actively involved in the conspiracy to murder tailor Kanhaiya Lal.

 

 

The horrifying crime took place on June 28, 2022 in which two Islamists identified as Riyaz and Ghous Mohammad brutally beheaded a Hindu tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur, Rajasthan. They had entered the shop pretending to be customers. After some time, they slit Kanhaiya Lal’s throat and stabbed him around 26 times on his body, especially on the neck.

 

He was murdered for posting a social media message in support of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. What was more horrifying is that the murderers had also recorded the crime boasting about their heinous act.