BJP leaders asked police not to act against Udaipur murder accused after landlord complaint: CM Ashok Gehlot

CM Gehlot fires salvo at saffron party, alleges links with accused in Udaipur killing; BJP hits back

Opposition’s presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot during a press conference, in Jaipur on Monday. (Express Photo by Rohit Jain Paras

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said on Monday that when the landlord of the Udaipur murder accused complained to the local police about the men, BJP leaders had allegedly called and asked them to not take any action against the accused.

“Everybody knows how the main accused (in the Udaipur murder case) had connections with the BJP and at what level. Recently news came that the landlord of the rented place where they used to live…the landlord is also Muslim, he complained to the police that they were troubling him… some people used to come to his house, threaten, and also he didn’t get rent. Before the police could act, BJP leaders called the police station saying that he is our worker and don’t bother him,” Gehlot told reporters.

Speaking on the sidelines of a joint press conference with opposition’s presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha, Gehlot said that the whole world knows that those accused of murdering tailor Kanhaiya Lal ‘were sitting on whose lap.’

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When asked by the media how the police, which comes under the Congress government in the state, can listen to the opposition BJP, Gehlot said, “Maine aapko ghatana batayi, ki phone gaye wahan pe. Zaruri nahin ki unki baat maani gayi ho. Jo khabrein aa rahi hai mere paas mein, wo maine share ki bas (I told you about the incident, that phone calls were made… It’s not necessary that what they (BJP) said was accepted. I just shared the news that I am getting).”

When contacted, BJP MLA and deputy leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore said that Gehlot should not make ‘baseless’ allegations.

“If the Chief Minister has such evidence with him that the accused are associated with any leaders of the BJP, then why he is sitting quietly? He also has ATS and other security agencies at his disposal. These types of baseless statements reduce the seriousness of the matter,” said Rathore, denying that the two accused had any connection with the BJP.

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The two main accused in the killing of Lal — Mohammad Riyaz and Ghouse Mohammad — had also made a video of the murder and in separate videos had said that Lal was killed as he had shared a post in support of BJP’s Nupur Sharma’s comments on the Prophet.

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Of the duo, Riyaz lived in a rented accommodation in Udaipur.

The Congress has consistently been alleging that the two accused were associated with the BJP, an allegation that has been denied by the saffron party.

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