Udaipur Kanhaiya Lal Killing: NIA Makes Ninth Arrests, Believes Co-conspirator Played 'Active Role'

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested the ninth person allegedly involved in the murder of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Rajasthan's Udaipur.

Muslim Khan, 41 alleged conspired Lal's murder and played an "active role" in it, according to NIA. 

The NIA said Khan is a resident of Pratapgarh in Rajasthan.   

The NIA has so far made nine arrests in the case since taking over the investigations on June 29. The last arrest was made on July 21 when Mohammad Javed, a resident of Sindhi Sarkar Ki Haweli, Kheradiwala, was taken into custody.

Kanhaiya Lal was killed with a cleaver inside his tailoring shop in Rajasthan's Udaipur on June 28. His attackers Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad recorded the attack on their mobile phone and shared the video online. In a separate video also shared online, the two of them claimed that Lal was murdered in response to disrespect shown to Prophet Muhammad. They also issued a threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The NIA said Riaz and Ghouse wanted to "strike terror among the masses across the country" through Lal's murder. 

Officials said NIA is looking into the role of "local self-radicalised gangs" and their possible international linkages, even as a preliminary probe suggests that more people could be involved in the conspiracy to murder Lal.   

NIA officials said Riaz and Ghouse became members of Pakistan-based Sunni Islamic organisation Dawat-e-Islami via a mobile application and one of them was in touch with some people in Pakistan. They, however, said it was too early to draw any conclusions.

The Karachi-based Dawat-e-Islami website, however, says it is a "global non-political Islamic organisation working for the propagation of the Quran and Sunnah throughout the globe" and that it was established in 1981. 

(With PTI inputs)