A man was taken into custody on Saturday in Surat, Gujarat, for allegedly plotting the assassination of a Hindu organization’s head and threatening the chief editor of the Sudarshan television channel, Telangana MLA Raja Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the party’s previous spokesperson, Nupur Sharma, in collusion with his handlers in Pakistan and Nepal, according to a senior police official.
Anupam Singh Gehlot, the commissioner of Surat police, described the offender who was detained as Maulvi Sohel Abubakr Timol (27), a manager at a thread factory who provided Muslim children with individual instruction on Islam.
According to Gehlot, he was discovered to be plotting with individuals from Pakistan and Nepal to provide a Rs 1 crore “supari” (contract for death) and obtain weapons from Pakistan in order to murder Hindu Sanatan Sangh national president Upadesh Rana.
“After his detention, we found several objectionable contents in his mobile phones, including the one regarding offering Rs 1 crore for the murder of Updesh Rana. For this, he was in continuous touch with persons/numbers from Pakistan and Nepal,” Gehlot told PTI.
“Timol was also found to be involved in issuing threats to Rana in March this year. The accused used a virtual number from Laos to issue threats to the target by connecting numbers from Pakistan and Nepal in his group call,” he said.
“Photos and other details found on his phone number show they (accused and associates) were discussing on a secure app about targeting and threatening editor-in-chief of Sudarshan TV Suresh Chavhanke, political leader Nupur Sharma, and Hyderabad MLA Raja Singh. For this purpose, they were planning to collect funds and procure weapons,” Gehlot said.
According to Gehlot, these individuals are extremely radicalised and have discussed killing Hindutva leaders as well as the assassination of Kamlesh Tiwari, the head of the Hindu Samaj Party, who was slain in Lucknow on October 18, 2019.
According to the official, Timol planned to assassinate Rana as soon as possible to cause strife across communities during the current general elections. Surat police was enlisting the aid of other authorities to determine whether Timol had any other targets in mind.
According to a crime branch announcement, the accused was approached by two people named Dogar and Shehnaz, whose phone numbers were from Pakistan and Nepal, respectively, during their preliminary questioning.
“Around a year and half ago, the two persons contacted the accused through social media on phone numbers belonging to Pakistan and Nepal. They instigated the accused by claiming the Nabi had been mocked by Hindu organisations in India and these need to be straightened out,” the release said.
According to the authorities, Timol obtained an international SIM card from Laos to conceal his identity. He also registered a business account on social media, which he utilised to threaten Rana.
According to police, he published anti-Hindu statements on the chat app and threatened to kill Rana, just like Kamlesh Tiwari. He also claimed that someone in his chat group had submitted Rana’s photo along with an offer of Rs 1 crore to have him killed.
“The accused used social media to spread communal animosity, to upload photos of the national flag of India and make lewd comments in posts or videos about Hinduism. He created a false electronic record and ordered arms from foreign handlers,” the release said.
It was claimed in the release that the accused who was apprehended had communication with people who had Whatsapp numbers with codes from Pakistan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Laos.
In addition to the Information Technology Act, the official stated that he was booked under the Indian Penal Code sections 153 (A) (engage in wanton vilification or attacks upon the religion, race), 467, 468, and 471 (related to forging of documents or electronic record), and section 120 (B) for criminal conspiracy.
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