Rajasthan HC grants bail to accused in Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal's murder who shared social media post supporting ex-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma

Javed, who was accused of scouting the location for the main perpetrators, was granted bail by a bench comprising Justices Pankaj Bhandari and Praveer Bhatnagar.

On June 28, 2022, Kanhaiya Lal Teli was allegedly killed by Mohammad Riyaz and Ghouse Mohammad at his shop in Udaipur, allegedly over a social media post he shared in support of suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who had made comments about the Prophet during a televised debate.

According to The Indian Express, Javed’s lawyer Syed Saadat Ali said, “An appeal was filed by Mohammad Javed. We had filed an appeal on the grounds that he was arrested merely on the basis of call details. He has been in jail since July 21, 2022 and the only thing against him were the call details. But the NIA could not even prove the location in the call details or that all three of them conspired.”

Ali said, “They could not point to the location where all three allegedly sat (and conspired). NIA said that Mohammad Javed called the main accused at 11 am and informed him that Kanhaiya Lal is at his shop. However, neither in the challan or in the map, the distance between Kanhaiya Lal’s shop to Javed’s is shown.

“And if Javed still left his shop and went to see Kanhaiya at his shop, then he would’ve been captured in the CCTV and his face would have been there. But no videography or CCTV evidence was presented, nor his location was proved. On this ground, the honourable High Court released Mohammad Javed on a bail of Rs 2 lakh.”

While the main accused, Mohammad Riyaz and Ghouse Mohammad, were arrested within hours of the murders, others, including Javed, were arrested later in connection with the crime.

Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, Congress’s Tika Ram Jully, criticised the BJP over the bail. “The accused are getting bail under the BJP rule, which did politics over the murder of Kanhaiya Lal. This is the real face of the BJP,” Jully was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.