BENGALURU: The dastardly murder of 40-year-old Kanhaiya Lal Teli in Udaipur on Tuesday by two Muslim youths has put the desert state of Rajasthan on the boil. Though the police have arrested both the perpetrators – Mohammed Rafiq and Abdul Jabbar – people are agitated and extremely angry.
In an exclusive interview with The New Indian, Leader of Opposition in state assembly Gulab Chand Kataria, who hails from Udaipur, came clean on a lot of thorny questions pertaining to the incident. The former state home minister said that since the Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot also handles the home ministry, he should share the blame for this heinous incident.
“See, CM Gehlot is also handling the home ministry. He certainly has to share the blame for this ghastly act. Also, the approach of the police was extremely irresponsible and slapdash in this matter. A lot of small incidents had happened in Udaipur in the last few months. The trouble was brewing,” he said.
He continued: “Kanhaiya Lal had filed a complaint that he had been receiving death threats. He did not even open his shop for many days. Yesterday, he opened his shop and was killed on the same day. That shows utter negligence by the police.”
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Though Rajasthan has seen a clutch of communal incidents in the last few years, Udaipur has largely been a peaceful city. Talking about his constituency, he asserted that perpetrators aren’t from Udaipur and are linked with some terror outfits.
“The way perpetrators murdered Kanhaiya Lal in cold blood and then uploaded the video has shocked and numbed people. People of Udaipur are not of such disposition. This is the handiwork of some Islamic terror groups and they were only carrying out orders. I think they did not have any personal grudge against the victim but were brainwashed and just completed their target,” the 77-year-old said.
The perpetrators were nabbed by the police from Bhim town of Rajsamand. The probe has now been handed over to the National Investigative Agency (NIA). However, Kataria referred to the “appearances” of the culprits and opined that they can’t be from Rajasthan.
“Look at their faces, appearances and ‘pagdi’. They don’t seem like they are from our state. I am absolutely certain that after the NIA probe the truth will come out. This was not a murder but a terror attack,” he concluded.