LAL HAD REFUSED TO OPEN HIS SHOP AMID CONSTANT THREATS: LOCALS

JAIPUR: Around 2.30 pm, 47-year-old Kanhaiya Lal, with a green cap on his head, was at his tailoring shop in Udaipur’s Dhan Mandi, measuring Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari’s chest with a tape. As Gaus Mohammed filmed the events that were to follow, Akhtari began hacking Lal’s neck with a knife. Lal’s last words in the video were a repeated “kya hua” (what happened), that tapered off into a scream.

A local resident said Lal was originally from Salumber village of Udaipur, and lived in Udaipur’s Sector 11. For the past two decades, Lal worked as a tailor in his shop.

Lal’s neighbours said around two weeks ago, he shared a clip of now suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma where she allegedly used provocative words for the Prophet, on WhatsApp. “His family has always said that he was not well versed in using mobile, and the post may have been uploaded by children playing with his phone,” a neighbour said. Still, it caused consternation among Muslim residents of his locality. An FIR against Lal under sections 295(A) and 153(A) said that he had made a post which hurt Muslims.

On June 18, with a stir against Sharma’s comments planned in the area, he was picked up by police. “He was released the day after, and continuously said that if he had hurt sentiments, he was sorry,” a local resident said. Locals added, Lal was being threatened over the phone, and had informed the police. For the past ten days, he had refused to open his shop in fear, only mustering the courage on June 28. The video of the killing shows Lal in his shop taking Akhtari’s measurements. As he put the measuring tape around Akhtari’s chest, Lal asks, “Thoda sa kam karun kya? (should I reduce it a little bit)?” He then begins to note the measurements. As he does so, Akhtari, turns a cold-blooded murderer.