Maharasthra : Amravati chemist murder case: NIA takes all the accused into custody, investigation continues

Maharashtra : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken into custody all the seven accused in the murder of Amravati chemist Umesh Kolhe. A police officer gave this information on Tuesday.

He said the NIA took into custody all the accused, who were taken on four-day transit remand on Monday after being produced in the Amaravati court.The officer further said that the accused are likely to be produced before the Mumbai court of NIA on or before July 8.

Police Commissioner Arti Singh on Monday said the Amravati police had found a link between former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and social media posts supporting the murder of Umesh during the investigation and the matter was not suppressed.He said the police did not disclose the information earlier in view of the extremely sensitive nature of the murder case and to avoid any untoward incident.

The seven accused are Mudassar Ahmed (22), Shahrukh Pathan (25), Abdul Tawfiq (24), Shoaib Khan (22), Atib Rashid (22) and Yusuf Khan (32) and the alleged mastermind Sheikh Irfan Sheikh Rahim. Police are looking for another suspect in the case, Shamim Ahmed.

Umesh was allegedly attacked with a knife by a group of three men on June 21 between 10 pm and 10:30 pm. He died during treatment in the hospital. He had supported a post on social media in support of Nupur Sharma, who had commented on Prophet Muhammad in a TV debate.