NIA team rushes to Udaipur, to probe terror angle in tailor's murder

The Centre is treating the gruesome killing of a tailor in Udaipur on Tuesday as a terror attack and has dispatched a probe team that included officials of the anti-terror agency National Investigation Agency as initial information suggested that the assailants could have had links with the ISIS, officials said.

The officials said the probe team would thoroughly investigate the case and carry out a background check of the two accused arrested.

"Prima-facie it seems to be a terror case and needs a thorough investigation which includes browsing through their social media profiles," a senior official said on condition of anonymity.

The case is likely to be handed over to the National Investigation Agency for probe after registration of a case under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Two men slit the throat of the tailor, Kanhaiya Lal, and posted a video on social media where they claimed that they are avenging an insult to Islam. This triggered communal tension in the Rajasthan city with curfew being imposed.

In a video clip, one of the purported assailants declared that they had "beheaded" the man and then threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying their knife will get him as well.

Indirectly, the assailants referred to Nupur Sharma, the BJP leader suspended from the party over a remark on Prophet Mohammad.

The men who allegedly carried out the daylight murder posted videos online admitting to the crime and were taken into custody by police. One of them identified himself as Riaz Akhtari.

Akhtari's links have been traced to the Pakistan-based Dawaat-e-Islami which has its branches in India as well.

Some of the cadres of the Dawaat-e-Islami were involved in multiple terror incidents, including the assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer in 2011.

Beheadings by terror groups, especially ISIS and Al-Qaeda, are common.

The gruesome practice began in 2014 when several foreigners were killed in a similar fashion by the ISIS, with these videos being uploaded on social media.

During the three decades of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, only one beheading case was witnessed in 1995 when terrorist of Al-Faran, an assumed name of banned Harkat-ul-Ansar terror group, killed foreign tourist Hansa Ostro.