New Delhi: In the aftermath of the killing of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Rajasthan’s Udaipur on Tuesday, June 28, 32 officers of the Indian Police Service (IPS) have been transferred.
A number of senior officers also feature in the list of transfers, including the inspector general of police (IGP) and the Udaipur superintendent of police (IPS), according to a report by NDTV.
Lal, 48, was killed by two individuals – Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad – for sharing on Twitter the derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad made by suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma last month.
After Lal’s murder, the Udaipur police had come under heavy criticism for failing to pay heed to Lal’s reported allegations that he had been facing death threats after the post was shared from his handle. The police had even arrested Lal for the post, but had later released him.
Also read: ‘Barbaric’, ‘Gruesome’: English Editorials Unanimously Condemn Killing Of Tailor In Udaipur
Following the brutal killing, the two perpetrators had released a video in which they claimed that the act had been committed to “avenge an insult to islam”, an ostensible reference to Sharma’s remarks being shared by Lal.
In the video, the two accused were also seen threatening Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Subsequently, one of the two accused was found by the Rajasthan police to have had links with the Pakistan-based Dawat-e-Islami organisation. The police also said that the accused had visited Karachi in 2014.
“One of the accused, Ghouse Mohammad, has links with the Karachi-based Islamist organisation Dawat-e-Islami. He had visited Karachi in 2014. So far, we have detained five people, including the two prime accused,” Rajasthan director general of police (DGP) M.L. Lather had said.
The case how been transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and will be investigated in conjunction with the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Rajasthan Police.
On Thursday, June 30, the two accused were produced before a local court and sent to 14-day judicial custody. A total of five others have been detained in the case so far.
In the aftermath of the incident, Lather said that an assistant sub-inspector had been suspended for failing to take appropriate action in the case. Now, amid the heavy criticism being levied against the state police, 32 more officers have been transferred.
Protests were seen in Udaipur in the days that followed the killing, in light of which heavy police presence has been deployed in the region and curfews have been imposed.