Dhandhuka murder: 3 men were held for ‘sheltering shooters’ who killed Bharwad
According to police, Sabbir and Imtiyaz allegedly shot at Bharwad, while the weapon was provided by Javarawala. Police said the shooters were allegedly instigated by Usmani who runs Tahreek Farooghe Islam organisation in Delhi.
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Police earlier booked around 150 people in Rajkot for allegedly assaulting a police personnel and damaging public property during protest over the murder Kishan Boliya in Ahmedabad’s Dhandhuka. (Express Photo)Three men who were arrested by the Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Wednesday in the Dhandhuka murder case were held for their alleged involvement in procuring weapon and providing shelter to the shooters who killed 30-year-old Kishan Bharwad over an objectionable Facebook post, according to officials.
The three — Rameez Seta, Matin Modan and Hussain Khatri alias Mistry — were arrested by ATS teams from various cities of Gujarat in an operation on Wednesday and brought to the agency’s headquarters Thursday.
Five other accused — Sabbir Chopda, Imtiyaz Pathan, Azeem Sama and clerics Maulvi Qamar Gani Usmani, Maulana Mohammad Ayyub Javarawala, were arrested earlier.
Bharwad was allegedly shot dead by two bike-borne men in Dhandhuka on January 25 when he was traveling on a motorcycle.
According to police, Sabbir and Imtiyaz allegedly shot at Bharwad, while the weapon was provided by Javarawala. Police said the shooters were allegedly instigated by Usmani who runs Tahreek Farooghe Islam organisation in Delhi. Investigation revealed that the main shooter Sabbir Chopda and Maulvi Mohammad Ayyub had visited Porbandar last year allegedly to kill a person named Sajan Odedara in another blasphemy case. However, Odedara was not present in Porbandar at the time of their visit, said the police.
ATS deputy superintendent of police BH Chavda said in a press conference on Thursday, “Eight accused have been arrested in the case so far. Among the three arrested on Thursday, Rameez Seta, along with another accused Azeem Sama, procured the weapon to kill Bharwad.
Before the murder, Sabbir Chopda and Maulana Mohammad Ayyub had visited Porbandar to murder another citizen Sajan Odedara over another blasphemous post. In that case, Hussain Khatri provided them food and shelter in Porba-ndar. The third arrested Matin Modan received a call from Sabbir Chopda right after Bharwad was shot at and he provided shelter to both Sabbir and Imtiyaz.”
Role of 8 accused in the case as per police:
– Maulvi Qamar Gani Usmani: Usmani runs Tehreek Farooghe Islam (TFI), a Delhi-based organisation that advocates punishment for blasphemy-related incidents in India. He has been arrested for his alleged involvement in instigating Sabbir Chopda.
– Maulana Mohammad Ayyub Javarawala: A cleric based out of Jamalpur in Ahmedabad who allegedly provided a handgun and ammunition to Sabbir after sourcing it from others. Javarawala along with Sabbir also tried to kill another man named as Sajan Odedara in Porbandar. The ATS has seized copies of “Jazba E Shahadat” authored by Javarawala that mentions about “punishment in cases of blasphemy”.
– Sabbir Chopda: The man who shot at Kishan Bharwad, 25-year-old Sabbir Chopda from Dhandhuka is a class 9 dropout and works as a welder. He allegedly contacted Usmani on Instagram and met him in Mumbai after which he was asked to meet Javarawala in Ahmedabad.
– Imtiyaz Pathan : Accomplice of Chopda, who did recce of Bharwad for 4-5 days with him on motorcycle. He was riding the motorcycle when Chopda shot at Bharwad.
– Azeem Sama: Resident of Rajkot who allegedly provided the handgun to Javarawala.
– Rameez Seta: Accomplice of Azeem who procured the weapon.
– Hussain Khatri : Resident of Porbandar who provided shelter to Sabbir and Javarawala when they were in the city to kill Sajan Odedara.
– Matin Modan: He received the first call from Sabbir after the murder of Bharwad and provided him shelter in Ahmedabad.
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