Three senior police officials said on Saturday that two Muslim men based in Rajasthan were being held for planning to kill Telli at his shop in Udaipur, a popular tourist destination. Two other Muslims had already been arrested. “We have now arrested the two masterminds and had earlier arrested two men who committed the heinous crime,” said Prafulla Kumar, a senior Udaipur-based police official. The killing was filmed and posted online, allegedly in response to the victim’s support of a politician’s derogatory comments. The victim, Kanhaiya Lal Teli, allegedly made a post on social media supporting Nupur Sharma – a former spokesperson for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party – who made anti-Islamic comments in May. Kumar said internet services were gradually being restored and security forces continued to be on alert. An angry crowd, including some lawyers, slapped and pushed the four accused in the murder case when they appeared before a trial court on Saturday. Supreme court judges said on Friday that Sharma should apologize to the entire nation after her comments deepened religious rifts in India, angered Islamic nations and sparked diplomatic pressure. Local media reported a separate incident on June 21 in which a chemist was stabbed to death in the western state of Maharashtra for supporting statements made by Sharma on social media. “Five people have been arrested in connection with the chemist’s murder and an investigation is underway to identify the main accused,” Aarti Singh, the district police chief, was quoted as saying by local media. In Afghanistan, the Islamic State militant group last month claimed responsibility for an attack on a Sikh temple that killed at least two people and wounded seven, in response to insults made to the Prophet Muhammad in India. Police in New Delhi arrested journalist Mohammad Zubair, a staunch critic of the Modi government, who had helped draw attention to Sharma’s comments through the vetting website Alt News and on social media. Zubair’s bail application was rejected on Saturday and a local court remanded him in custody for two weeks, according to a court order. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) – India’s top counter-terrorism agency – said it was investigating Telly’s murder. A senior NIA official in New Delhi said agents were interrogating Muslims associated with the four accused in Udaipur to determine if they had links with militant networks. Muslims living about 3 km from the tailor shop said they felt nervous and feared a social and economic boycott by powerful Hindus residing in Udaipur. “I know what has been done is barbaric, but the community should not be held responsible for the act of two people,” said Mohammad Farukh, a medical representative who lives in a predominantly Muslim area of the city.
