Court grants NIA 90-day extension to file chargesheet in Umesh Kolhe murder case
Sep 20, 2022
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 20 : Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has given additional 90 days to NIA to file a chargesheet in the murder case of Amravati-based pharmacist Umesh Kolhe.
NIA was supposed to file the chargesheet on Tuesday but the agency asked for an extension which was granted by the special NIA court in Mumbai today.
The case was initially registered by Maharashtra Police on June 22 and the NIA re-registered the case on July 2 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, and sections 16, 18 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The central agency so far arrested 10 people for allegedly murdering Kolhe while he was on his way home after closing his chemist shop.
FIR said that the killing of Kolhe was an act of a "larger conspiracy by a group of persons" who conspired to strike terror amongst a section of people of India with their assertions attempted to promote enmity on the grounds of religion.
Kolhe's murder, the FIR also mentions, was carried out as part of the conspiracy to "terrorise a section of the people of India and the case may have national and international linkages".
Kolhe, 54, was hacked to death on June 21 night after he wrote a post in support of former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nupur Sharma on Facebook.
The FIR mentions that City Kotwali Police Station in Maharashtra's Amravati received information about the brutal killing of Kolhe by using a knife, and filed a case on June 22 against three unidentified accused persons. The case was registered on the complaint of Sanket Umesh Kolhe, the son of the deceased.
A resident of the Ghanashyam Nagar area in Amravati, Kolhe was killed around 10 pm to 10.30 pm on June 21 while he was returning to his home.
The NIA was directed by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on July 1 to take over the case, and order followed regarding this from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Investigators so far believe that Kolhe was killed allegedly in retaliation for a social media post supporting BJP's Nupur Sharma who had made controversial comments on the Prophet in a television debate.
The killing took place exactly a week before tailor Kanhaiyalal Teli was hacked to death in Rajasthan's Udaipur district, a case that shocked the whole country.
