Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister, and Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan, got into a verbal duel over the death of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur a year ago on Friday.
Last June, Lal, a tailor from Udaipur, was beheaded for reportedly sharing a message in favour of suspended BJP lawmaker Nupur Sharma, who at the time had drawn widespread censure for her remarks on the Prophet Muhammad. The purported cleaver murder of Lal by two guys, Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, was caught on camera.
Shah criticised Gehlot for not creating a special court for Lal’s case and accused him of engaging in “vote bank politics” while speaking at a rally in Udaipur on Friday. He held him accountable for Lal’s case’s lack of justice.
In order to highlight the nine years of accomplishments of the Narendra Modi administration, Shah was speaking to a crowd at a public gathering in Udaipur’s Gandhi Maidan.
They (the Gehlot regime) ask me what I did in the Kanhaiya Lal case, Shah stated. You need to be embarrassed of your government for failing to safeguard Kanhaiya Lal before interrogating me, don’t you think? The accused were not even wanted to be detained by the Gehlot regime. The NIA was the one that captured them.
Shah charged Gehlot with failing to submit the case’s charge sheet.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), India’s top federal terrorist investigation unit, took up the investigation into Lal’s murder.
Two days after Gehlot pleaded with him to guarantee that Lal’s killers get justice, Shah made his comments. On Wednesday, Gehlot issued a statement in which he claimed, “The Rajasthan Police took immediate action and apprehended both of the culprits within four hours, maintaining the peace and order situation across the whole state. Even after a year, the accused had not been found guilty. The same night, the Centre’s NIA took over the case since they may have received information on an international conspiracy behind the development.
Gehlot pleaded with Shah to order the NIA to punish them as quickly as possible.
Shah continued to criticise Gehlot on Friday, stating, “I want to emphasise that the charge sheet was submitted on December 22, 2022. The Rajasthan government attempted to create a special court with the High Court’s assistance, but was unsuccessful. If not, the defendant in the Kanhaiya Lal case would already be paying the price. People who participate in vote-bank politics need to feel guilty.
Shah’s remarks are labelled irresponsible by Gehlot.
Gehlot responded to Shah’s accusations by criticising the remark on Twitter as “irresponsible”.
Gehlot said that the state government had detained the suspect and turned over the investigation to the NIA. He and his fellow ministers then visited with Lal’s family and gave both of his sons employment in the government.
“Amit Shah’s assertion in Udaipur is false. Riyaz Attari and Ghous Mohammed, Kanhaiya Lal’s murderers, were captured by the Rajasthan Police four hours after the crime, not the NIA, according to Gehlot in a tweet.
Along with forcing Gehlot to address Lal’s case, Shah also charged the Gehlot administration of permitting the Popular Front of India (PFI) to hold rallies against the organization’s national ban.
Hindu festivities were prohibited in Rajasthan during the Congress administration of Ashok Gehlot. Temples dating back hundreds of years were being destroyed, and the RSS was forbidden from undertaking any activity. In violation of the Constitution, this was permitted in the name of vote-bank politics. Vote-bank politics are not practised by the BJP, according to Shah.
Gehlot expressed worries about the participation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members in the crime and questioned why the NIA took so long to file the charge sheet in Lal’s case.
The state of the Kanhaiya Lal murder investigation
Currently, the Special Judge NIA/CBI court in Jaipur, Rajasthan is hearing the Kanhaiya Lal murder case.
Since taking over the investigation, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is looking into the murder case, has made nine arrests. After assuming control of the case from the Rajasthan Police on June 29, 2022, the NIA reregistered it under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
At first, the matter was reported to Udaipur’s Dhanmandi Police Station. Lal was stabbed several times by Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, two people who had entered his tailor business pretending to be clients.
On June 28, 2022, Lal was brutally killed inside his tailor business in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The brutal assault on Lal was also recorded by the two assailants, who then released films boasting about the murder and claiming responsibility for the attack on Lal for allegedly posting a social media post in favour of former suspended BJP politician Nupur Sharma.
Lal had complained about death threats related to a social media post supporting Sharma days before to his horrifying murder. On June 10, Lal was taken into custody as a result of a complaint over the post. He was, however, freed on bail the next day.