DNA Special: NIA chargesheet reveals real truth about murder of Amravati’s Umesh Kolhe

The row over the comments made by former Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma regarding Prophet Muhammad sparked a major controversy across the nation, leading to two brutal murders, including that of Umesh Kolhe.

On June 21 this year, a drug trader named Umesh Kolhe was brutally murdered in Amravati. At that time, it was claimed that Umesh Kolhe was killed due to supporting Nupur Sharma's statement against Prophet Muhammad, which sparked an atmosphere of hate in the entire country.

Some people were supporting Nupur Sharma, while some were opposing Nupur Sharma's statement. But during this time, some people with the radical ideology of the Muslim community in many cities were trying to create panic in society.

The CCTV footage of Umesh Kolhe’s murder saw two men killing him in the middle of the road when he was returning home from work, after locking up his pharmacy store. Umesh Kolhe's murder was not an ordinary murder, which is why the investigation of this case was given to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has now made some shocking revelations about the case.

• The first disclosure - Umesh Kolhe was murdered to spread panic in the non-Muslim society.
• Second disclosure- People associated with the radical Muslim organization Tablighi Jamaat were behind the murder of Umesh Kolhe.
• Third disclosure - The purpose of the Tablighi Jamaat people was to target those who supported Nupur Sharma.
• Fourth disclosure- A terrorist group of 11 people was formed to kill Umesh.
• Fifth disclosure - A foolproof plan was prepared for Umesh's murder, in which a backup team was also formed.

After the controversy over Nupur Sharma's statement, such cases were coming up all over the country. FIRs were even filed against Nupur Sharma in many states of the country. But in Amravati, the Tablighi Jamaat men who killed Umesh were already involved in threatening non-Muslims even before the murder. 

All the eleven accused in the Umesh Kolhe murder were a part of the Tablighi Jamaat, according to NIA. The motive of all these was to spread fear across Amravati and among those who supported Nupur Sharma. Out of these 11 accused, only two accused Yusuf and Atib Rashid knew Umesh.

The Muslim community in Amravati was also agitated over this dispute. Irfan and Mushfiq, accused of Umesh's murder, wanted to file an FIR at the police station. The police did not register their FIR saying that Nupur Sharma already has FIRs registered against her in several states. After this, Irfan and Mushfiq decided to take revenge.

After this, Irfan and Mushfiq called a meeting of people of the Muslim community through WhatsApp group meetings only. It was decided that an FIR would be lodged by putting pressure on the police, but this attempt was also not successful. After this, messages supporting and opposing Nupur Sharma's statement started going viral in the city.

These people of Tablighi Jamaat started targeting those who supported Nupur Sharma's statement. On June 9, Dr. Srigopal put up a WhatsApp status in support of Nupur Sharma, after which he started receiving threatening calls in the name of Rahbar Helpline.

On June 10, a mobile shop owner, Jayakumar, had also received threatening phone calls from Mudassir and Sheikh Shakeel, accused of killing Umesh. On June 12, Vishal, a resident of Amravati, also received threats. He was also threatened by Mudassir Ahmed after he supported Nupur Sharma on Facebook.

NIA investigation revealed that these Tablighi Jamaat fanatics had started targeting those who were supporting Nupur Sharma's statement. These people believed that those supporting Nupur Sharma's statement were hurting their religious sentiments.

Like everyone else, Umesh Kolhe had put up a WhatsApp status supporting Nupur's statement. Yusuf Khan, the accused involved in the murder, was a doctor, so he knew Umesh, the owner of the medical shop, very well.

Umesh was also part of a WhatsApp group called Black Freedom, in which Yusuf Khan was the only Muslim person. On June 14, Umesh put up a picture in support of Nupur, after which Yusuf got very angry and planned to take revenge.

Yusuf took a screenshot of Umesh's WhatsApp status and put it in Kalim Ibrahim, a WhatsApp group of people from the Muslim community. The devious plot to murder the drug shop owner was set in motion then, and he was brutally killed in his own locality.

READ | Umesh Kolhe was murdered for supporting Nupur Sharma, Tablighi Jamaat men formed 'terror gang': NIA