india

Updated: Oct 21, 2019 08:16 IST

The police on Sunday said they seized items, including bloodstained clothes, belonging to the suspects in the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari, a Hindu group leader in Uttar Pradesh, even as Tiwari’s family members handed a list of 11 demands to chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow and separately demanded capital punishment for the killers.

Tiwari’s mother, wife and two sons spent around 30 minutes with the CM at his official residence in Lucknow on the day the police raided the Khalsa Inn hotel in the Lalbagh area of Lucknow where the suspects, who are on the run, were allegedly staying.

“According to the hotel staff, the two had identified themselves as Sheikh Ashfaqul Hussain and Moinuddin Pathan. On the day of murder, both of them had left the hotel, wearing saffron kurta, and there was a box of sweets in their hand,” director general of police OP Singh said.

“They came to the hotel on October 17 and left on October 18 afternoon. A saffron kurta with blood stains was found lying on their bed. The towel, which was retrieved, also had blood stains on it. A box of new mobile phone was also found from the spot. This is a big success in the investigation. The police will soon reach the killers,” Singh added.

During their investigation, the police found that the two men had checked into the hotel at 11pm on Thursday, a day before Tiwari was killed and checked out shortly after his murder around 1pm on Friday.

Tiwari, leader of the Hindu Samaj Party (HSP), was murdered inside his house by two unidentified men in Lucknow’s Khursheed Bagh on Friday in the fallout of “communal hate”, according to the police. Tiwari had filed a civil petition in the Supreme Court in 2011 challenging the Allahabad High Court’s decision to trifurcate the disputed site of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

The killers were allegedly known to Tiwari and allowed to meet him by the security guard posted at his residence only after the leader of the Hindu group allowed it. Five people — all from Surat — were involved in the murder and three of them have been arrested while a search is underway for the two others who executed the killing, the police have said. A special investigation team has been formed to probe the case.

Tiwari’s mother, Kusum, however, on Saturday alleged that her son was killed by a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader due to a land dispute. Reacting to the allegations, DGP Singh said on Sunday that Kusum’s allegations were being looked into. “All dots related to the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari will be connected to unravel the entire conspiracy related to it,” he said.

After Tiwari’s family met Adityanath, the Hindu group leader’s wife, Kiran, said the CM assured that the murderers will be punished. “We demanded capital punishment for the murderers.”

The family handed the chief minister a list of 11 demands, including financial aid, employment for Tiwari’s older son, and the installation of his statue and the construction of a road named after him in the area. Adityanath assured them of all help, according to officials privy with the developments. But Tiwari’s mother struck a discordant note. “Had I been satisfied [with the chief minister’s assurance], my blood would not have boiled.”

“I went there to ask him [the CM] why my son was murdered. Why his security was reduced. He replied that he was not here when the incident took place,” she told mediapersons in Sitapur, where the family had shifted to perform the last rites for Tiwari.

A state government official, who was present when the family met Adityanath, differed. “Both the wife and the mother of Kamlesh Tiwari were assured of justice in the case by the CM. The mother also called the CM her son after the meeting, but changed her statement once she returned to Sitapur,” he said.