Court remands Amravati chemist's killing 'mastermind' in police custody till July 7

Sheikh Irfan Shaikh Rahim alias Irfan Khan, the seventh accused in the murder case, was arrested from Nagpur on Saturday

Twelve days after an Amravati-based chemist was killed for sharing a post in support of Nupur Sharma, the main suspect in the case was on Sunday sent to police custody.

The Amravati police arrested Sheikh Irfan Shaikh Rahim (35), a resident of Kamela Ground in Pathan Chowk, from Nagpur city on Saturday.

Chemist Umesh Kolhe was killed by three bike-borne assailants in Amravati on June 21- a week before the Udaipur incident was reported, in which a tailor Kanhaiya Lal Teli was hacked to death by two persons.

Also Read | What we know so far about Amravati chemist's killing

Irfan was produced before Amravati district court, which remanded him to police custody till July 7.

“Sheikh Irfan is the mastermind of the killing,” City Kotwali police station Senior Inspector Nilima Araj said.

Sheikh Irfan was associated with an NGO Rehbar Group, which ran a couple of ambulances in the city. “He is under interrogation…from the interrogation of the suspects, we are not ruling out more arrests,” she said.

Acase has been registered under sections 16, 18 and 20 of UAPA Act, 302, 120 (B), 153 (A), 153 (B) of IPC on the complaint of Sanket Kolhe, the son of the victim.

The six other suspects are: Mudaseer Ahmed alias Sonu Raja alias Sheikh Ibrahim (22), Shahrukh Khan alias Badshah Hidayat Khan (25), Abdul Taufiq alias Nana Sheikh Taslim (24), Saheb Khan (22), Atib Rashid (22), Yusuf Khan Bahadur Khan (44).

The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the National Investigation Agency to take over the case, which is already in Amravati and is doing the formalities.

Meanwhile, Umesh Kolhe’s brother Mahesh Kolhe was quoted saying that his brother knew one of the accused.