india

Updated: Oct 22, 2019 22:19 IST

The Gujarat ATS on Tuesday arrested two alleged assailants of Hindu Samaj Party leader Kamlesh Tiwari.

“Ashfaq Sheikh and Moinuddin Pathan have been arrested from Shamlaji near Gujarat-Rajasthan border,’’ said Gujarat ATS DIG Himanshu Shukla.

Both are residents of Surat and were absconding. The ATS on October 19 had arrested three accused in the case including Ashfaq’s younger brother Rasheed, Faizan Sheikh and Maulana Mohsin.

The Gujarat ATS top officials ruling out any larger conspiracy maintained that motive behind the murder was to avenge remarks made by Tiwari against Prophet Mohmmad. Investigation so far has revealed that conspiracy and execution happened between the accused whose names have been cropped up so far and there does seem to be any larger conspiracy,’’ said a top official.

The two were arrested on the day when the UP police also arrived in Surat for investigation. The sweets box, which was used by Ashfaq and Moinuddin to conceal the knife used to slit Tiwari’s throat, was of a shop in Surat. The box helped the investigators trace the accused.

While Mohsin is resident of Umarwada, the other three reside in Limbayat area. Rasheed had returned from Dubai, where he worked as a computer engineer, only two months back.