Rajasthan Cong alleges Udaipur killing accused, arrested terrorist in J-K had BJP link; urges NIA to widen probe

Jaipur: Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra has written to NIA chief Dinkar Gupta demanding widening its probe into the killing of a tailor in Udaipur and LeT terrorist's arrest in Kashmir, alleging the accused in both cases were BJP members.

The BJP, however, hit back at Dotasra, accusing him of doing "petty politics" based on "forged photos that are going viral in social media".

In the letter to the NIA chief, Dotasra claimed that going by media reports, Mohammad Riaz Akhtari, one of the accused in the Udaipur incident, "was an active member of the BJP and he used to regularly participate in party programmes".

Akhtari's pictures with BJP MLA from Udaipur Gulab Chand Kataria have also surfaced on social media.

The Rajasthan Congress chief, in his letter to the NIA director-general also claimed that according to media reports, Talib Hussain Shah, one of the two terrorists arrested in Jammu and Kashmir's in Reasi, was also the social media in charge of the BJP's Jammu Minority Front.

"There is restlessness among the people... whether the BJP is supporting anti-national activities in its greed for power. To eliminate this doubt, the NIA should widen its investigation for both the incidents," Dotasra said in the letter.

In a statement, the Congress leader alleged that the BJP leaders in Rajasthan are involved in a blind race to become the party's chief ministerial candidate in next year's Assembly elections and have no concern for people's welfare.

"This is the reason why BJP leaders are going to the victim Kanhaiya Lal's house after seven days of the incident and coming back from Hyderabad after having fun."

The killing of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal was mentioned in obituary references during the BJP's national executive meeting in Hyderabad.

Hitting back at Dotasra, Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly Rajendra Rathore termed the state Congress chief's letter an attempt at 'petty politics'.

"Dotasra is doing petty politics based on forged photos that are going viral on social media. Before this, he should get the photo of Asif Hasadi, the main accused in the Chhabra communal violence incident, investigated in which he was seen attending the Iftar party held at the chief minister's residence," Rathore tweeted.

BJP leaders in Rajasthan have already refuted the allegation levelled by the Congress that the main accused in the Kanhaiya Lal murder case in Udaipur was a BJP member.

"Anyone can have a photo with any leader. It does not mean that he is a member of the BJP," said Mohammad Sadiq Khan, the state president of the BJP Minority Morcha.

"He might have gone to some party programme to carry out a recce and got photos clicked with local leaders. Since it is a normal trend to upload photos with leaders or celebrities on Facebook and other social media platforms, he might have also uploaded the photo but it does not mean that he is a BJP member," Khan said.

The BJP leader said the murder highlights the state government's failure as it did not provide security to Kanhaiya Lal despite a clear threat.