Hindu Man Beheaded In Udaipur For ‘Blasphemy’; Two Arrested After Viral Video

Two men, Gos Mohammad and Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari, have been arrested for beheading and killing a Hindu man in Rajasthan's Udaipur. The arrests were made on the basis of a video.

The victim is Kanhaiya Lal. He used to run a tailoring shop named Supreme Tailors in Udaipur’s Dhan Mandi market.

• He had put up a social media post supportive of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma amidst a controversy over the “blasphemy” of Islam’s founder.

• Local Muslims objected to Kanhaiya's post and complained to the local police. The police filed an FIR against Kanhaiya, but managed to sort out the differences between the two sides through talks.

• Kanhaiya returned home, but began getting death threats over phone calls and messages. He had reportedly filed an FIR about five days ago, but was not given police security.

The murder: Two men, wearing skull caps, entered his shop posing as customers. While Kanhaiya was taking their measurements, one of the men attacked him.

• The incident has been captured on a video that has gone viral online. They tried to behead him, but couldn't, the police said.

• While police called the video "too grisly to watch", other visuals of the case show Kanhaiya lying in the street outside his shop in a pool of blood. He died on the spot.

• The killers can be seen with swords and knives in hand, confessing to the crime and appealing to co-religionists to carry out more murders in the viral video.

• The man in the video is seen chanting slogans 'Labbaik ya Rasool-Allah (Here I am at your service, O Messenger of Allah)' and 'Gustakh-E-Nabi ki ek saza, sar tan se juda (There is only one punishment for blasphemy and that is beheading)'.

Murder for "blasphemy": Another video from 17 June has gone viral in which the murderer, Riyaz, pledged to murder "Gustakh-e-Rasool" and urged others to follow his lead.

• In the video, killers have also threatened PM Modi, saying, "Hope the knife reaches your neck as well."

• In January, a man in Gujarat named Kishen Boliya was killed by two men named Mohammad Shabbir and Mohammad Imitiaz Pathan for a “blasphemous” social media post. Like Kanhaiya, Kishen was booked by police for hurting religious sentiments before being killed in vigilante punishment by fanatics.

• In October 2019, Kamlesh Tiwari, also facing trial for allegedly insulting Mohammed (case filed under 295A besides other IPC sections), was killed by two men from Gujarat at his office.

• In 2010, a college professor in Kerala facing trial for insulting Mohammed (case filed under 295A besides other IPC sections) was brutally attacked by a group of Muslims.