Ahmedabad: Two men allegedly involved in the sensational killing of Hindu outfit leader Kamlesh Tiwari were arrested Tuesday evening by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), officials stated.
The accused, Surat residents Ashfaq Shaikh (34) and Moinuddin Pathan (27), were absconding since Kamalesh Tiwari’s brutal killing October 18 in Lucknow. The two were arrested from near Shamlaji on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border when they were about to enter Gujarat, Tuesday evening, said Himanshu Shukla, DIG, Gujarat ATS.
Primary interrogation of the accused revealed that they had committed the crime ‘in retribution to the purported statements by Tiwari’, an ATS release said.
Their location was traced through technical surveillance as they contacted their family members and friends after running out of cash, Shukla stated. He stated the duo will be handed over to the Uttar Pradesh police, probing the killing of Tiwari, who headed a little known outfit, Hindu Samaj Party (HSP).
While Shaikh, a resident of the Limbayat area in Surat, used to work as a medical representative, Pathan, a resident of Umarwada, was employed as a food delivery boy, the release further said.
“After committing the crime, the duo went to Nepal and then started their journey back to Gujarat after reaching Shahjahanpur (in Uttar Pradesh). Since they ran out of cash, the accused duo contacted their family members and acquaintances for more money. Based on technical and physical surveillance, they were eventually traced today (Tuesday) evening,” said the release.
Six persons, including three from Surat and one from Nagpur have already been taken into custody in connection with the murder case.
Meanwhile, a team of the Uttar Pradesh police landed Tuesday in Surat to conduct further probe into the killing of Tiwari.
The Surat link came to light after the UP police found a box of confectionaries with the logo of ‘Dharti Sweets’ located in the Udhna area of the diamond city, from Tiwari’s house, where he was gunned down by assailants.
PTI