Udaipur killing: NIA questions accused Riyaz's relatives, visits spot of 'video' shooting

The NIA-SIT teams have raided a factory, SK Engineering Works in Udaipur's Sukher police station area, where the accused had made the video and found a few weapons there.

Bhilwara/Udaipur:National Investigation Agency (NIA) team reached the residence of Riyaz Atari, the accused arrested in the tailor Kanhaiyalal murder case in Udaipur on Wednesday evening where the team interrogated brothers and relatives of Atari. The NIA-SIT teams have raided a factory, SK Engineering Works in Udaipur's Sukher police station area, where the accused had made the video, and found a few weapons there. The son of Atari's brother said, "whatever he did was wrong. They should not do this. Due to the deeds done by my uncle, we do not consider him as a family now. We live and work comfortably."

Meanwhile, the NIA is looking into the role of "local self-radicalized" groups and other linkages of the two prime accused in the brutal killing of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal Teli, officials said on Thursday. The federal agency is waiting to get the custody of Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad so that it can begin their questioning as part of the case registered against them under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Indian Penal Code.

The NIA said the two wanted to "strike terror among the masses across the country" through the gruesome act. The duo had posted videos online claiming responsibility for the attack and also issued a threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Officials said the agency is looking into the role of "local self-radicalized gangs" and their possible international linkages even as a preliminary probe suggests that more people could be involved in the conspiracy to murder Teli.

Akhtari and Mohammad are being taken to Jaipur where they would be produced before a special NIA court, officials said. The NIA officials said the two became members of Pakistan-based Sunni Islamic organization Dawat-e-Islami via a mobile application and one of them was in touch with some people in Pakistan. They also that they suspect the role of a "terror gang and not a terror outfit" behind the incident. The anti-terror agency, however, made it clear that there is a role of a bigger gang behind the brutal killing and that it was not just an act done by only two persons, who were arrested by state police after the incident.

The Central agency also denied reports of some media outlets regarding the involvement of a few terror outfits, saying "all are based on speculation." "There will be many group members of the accused. It is not just two. There will be a bigger group. The preliminary inquiry suggested that there may not be any terrorist group involved in the murder but a terror gang. Some media reports about the links of the two accused with some terrorist outfit are based on speculation," a senior NIA officer said.

A team of around 10 NIA personnel, led by an inspector general-rank officer, is camping in Udaipur to take the probe forward. The Karachi-based Dawat-e-Islami website says it is a "global non-political Islamic organization working for the propagation of the Quran and Sunnah throughout the globe" and that it was established in 1981. (With agency inputs).