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Synopsis

The Rajasthan High Court on Thursday granted bail to one Mohammad Javed, arrested in connection with the beheading of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal that had shocked the nation.

A division bench of Justice Pankaj Bhandari and Justice Praveer Bhatnagar has granted bail to the accused on a bail bond of Rs two lakh and surety of Rs one lakh each.

Kanhaiya Lal was beheaded on June 29, 2022, by Riyaz and Ghous Mohammed over his social media post which was in solidarity with ex-Bhartiya Janta Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma. 

Following the attack, the NIA took over the investigation from the Udaipur State police and arrested around 11 people in connection with the gruesome attack including two Pakistan Nationals. On February 13, NIA filed a chargesheet in a special court against all the accused.

Javed, according to NIA reports, played an important role in the conspiracy to kill Kanhaiyya Lal by conducting a recce and passing on the information about the presence of the victim at his shop to the main killer Riyaz. The NIA claimed the accused were self-radicalised while Attari had links with a Karachi-based Dawat-e-Islami.

NIA had filed chargesheet before the NIA Special Court, Rajasthan against eleven accused, including two Pakistan Nationals, in connection with the brutal killing of Kanhaiya Lal Teli by two assailants on June 28, 2022.

The investigations had further revealed that accused persons operating as a terror-gang module, conspired to take revenge. They were radicalized and took inspiration from incriminating videos/audio/ messages being circulated from within and outside India.

“The accused arranged deadly knives/arms and murdered Kanhaiya Lal in reaction to his Facebook post and attacked a co-worker in his shop in broad daylight. They made a video of the killing, released and made it viral. They also shot another threatening video with the intention of striking terror among the people of India”, the agency’s press release had stated.

Lal was murder was in retaliation to his social media post which was in solidarity with ex-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who had made comments about the Prophet during a live television debate. The eight-year-old son of the deceased victim Kanhaiya Lal had shared a social media post in support of Nupur Sharma from his mobile.

The attackers filmed the crime and shared it on social media, threatening Prime Minister Narendra Modi and taking responsibility for the murder.