lucknow

Updated: Jul 13, 2020 01:31 IST

Footage from 25 CCTV cameras and scanning of more than three dozen mobile phone numbers and detention of 15 people, after an initial lead from a box of sweets from a shop in Surat, helped the Uttar Pradesh police nab three men behind Hindu outfit leader Kamlesh Tiwari’s murder.

“We scanned footages of 25 CCTV cams installed in Khursheed Bagh (Lucknow) and its approach routes to trace the two saffron-clad suspects. Besides, scanning of over three dozen mobile numbers helped us reach the conspirators,” said SSP (Lucknow), Kalanidhi Naithani.

However, Naithani emphasised that the police got the basic lead in the case from the sweets box that had details of a Surat shop from where it was purchased.

Moreover, the receipt found in the box helped in getting details of purchase date and its timing, he added.

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The SSP said the Gujarat police’s coordination helped trace Faizan Yunus, 21, who purchased sweets from the Surat shop. Through him, the police reached the key conspirators – Maulana Mohsin Sheikh, 24, and tailor Rashid Ahmad alias Rashid Pathan, 23.

“Faizan was clearly spotted in the Gujarat shop’s CCTV footage,” he emphasised.

He said a team led by ASP (crime) Lucknow, Dinesh Puri had already left for Surat to take custody of the three conspirators held in Surat. Cops will bring them to Lucknow after procuring their transit remand from a local court.

The Lucknow police will seek their custody remand to interrogate them further, he added.

Another police official said that 15 people, including a woman, were rounded up in 15 hours of the incident. “On the basis of electronic surveillance and CCTV footages, we rounded up 10 people in UP’s Moradabad, Bijnor, Kanpur Dehat, and Lucknow as well as five people in Surat. Of these, we zeroed in on the three conspirators who were later arrested in Surat, while others were let off,” he said.

He said six youths of Moradabad were questioned on the basis of their frequent calls to Surat and Lucknow while two Bijnor clerics were detained and grilled following suspicion raised by Tiwari’s wife Kiran in the FIR lodged by her.

The official said one person from Kanpur Dehat was rounded up as the two assailants, who executed the killing, had borrowed his phone to call Tiwari while travelling from Surat to Lucknow in a train.

He said the woman clad in saffron kurta seen walking behind the two suspects in the CCTV footage near Tiwari’s house was also rounded up, but her involvement was not found.

In the footage, she was seen interacting with one of the suspects that raised suspicion on her. Investigation revealed that the suspect inquired about Khursheed Bagh’s address, but she feigned ignorance, he added.

10 teams for arrest of two killers

SSP (Lucknow) Kalanidhi Naithani said 10 teams had been constituted for the arrest of the two killers.

Three teams led by ASP (crime) Dinesh Puri, circle officer (CO) Ghazipur DK Singh and CO Hazratganj Abhay Mishra had been sent out of districts while seven teams were working to provide electronic surveillance and other support to three main teams, he said.

Killers moved towards Delhi

After executing Kamlesh Tiwari’s murder in Lucknow, the two assailants were suspected to have moved towards Delhi after boarding a train, suggested police probe.

As per investigation, they reached Lucknow by train and reached Tiwari’s house on foot. After committing the crime, they walked down to Charbagh to board a train, he added.

After the duo left Lucknow, their locations were also tracked in Bareilly and Moradabad.