Ramesh Chandra Shukla, principal of Atma Prakash Brahmachari Junior High School in Chakeri of Kanpur, was shot dead during his morning walk in October last year
The National Investigation Agency has taken over the probe into the murder of a retired principal in Uttar Pradesh from the state Anti Terrorism Squad. It has been alleged that victim Ramesh Chandra Shukla was killed by members of the Islamic State.
Shukla, principal of Atma Prakash Brahmachari Junior High School in Chakeri of Kanpur, was shot dead during his morning walk in October last year.
According to the ATS, members of IS's Khorasan module killed Shukla as part of a 'target practice'. The agency learnt about this while investigating their role in the Ujjain-Bhopal passenger train blast in March this year.
With the same group allegedly behind the blast and murder, authorities decided to allow one agency to probe both cases.
A day after the blast, ATS sleuths conducted an 11-hour encounter on the outskirts of Lucknow in which Kanpur-based IS operative Saifullah was killed. Subsequently, NIA arrested right members of the cell from Kanpur and various cities of Madhya Pradesh.
During investigation, the ATS found that the spent cartridges recovered from the spot of Shukla's killing matched the arms and ammunition recovered from Saifullah's hideout.
Meanwhile, one of the arrested terror suspect Atif Muzaffar told the NIA that he had nothing against Shukla and he became a target of their shooting practice. He and Moahmmad Danish killed Shukla while practising with 30 calibre pistol, which they bought from Fakre Alam of Etawah.
In its charge sheet in Ujjain-Bhopal Express blast, NIA made reference of Shukla's murder. Since the case was with the state police, they wrote to the Uttar Pradesh director general of police seeking permission to hand over the case to the NIA. Last week, the national agency took over the case.
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