“Seven persons were arrested from the Naroda extension here who are directly linked with the murder of Sayed,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Himanshu Shukla told reporters.

“Investigations are underway, and soon we would come to know about the motive behind the gruesome murder and from where they had arranged for weapons and cars,” he added.

Those arrested were Mohd Sharif alias Kaalu Gardan, one of the key accused, Mohd Sarfraz alia Palpal, Mohd Irfan alias Arif, Naseerudin Khatiyara, Mohd Sadiq Sheikh, Asif Ali alias Rock and Gulaam Hussain alias Painter.

“Some of those arrested like Kaalu Gardan have criminal history. They were arrested earlier in connection with a case under IPC 302,” Shukla said.

Sayed was stabbed several times with sharp-edged weapons on November 5 in Juhapura extension here. He had raised many RTI queries on the Godhra riots and related incidents.
His murder was also linked to the clash between the slaughter house owners and police early this week where two policemen were injured and a police jeep was torched by a mob.

“The assailants after murdering Sayed were on the run. They first fled to Viramgam, then to Udaipur, Ajmer and Muzzafarnagar, before returning back to Ahmedabad,” he said, adding that acting on a tip-off, the police managed to arrest them. The deceased, a Congress worker, was a witness in the Naroda Patiya case, where 95 persons were killed on February, 28, 2002 during the communal violence that erupted after the Godhra train burning incident.