Amravati pharmacist murder: NIA arrests absconding accused, lawyer claims he came to surrender

Umesh Kolhe. File Pic

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested an absconding accused in the murder case of Amravati pharmacist Umesh Kolhe from premises of a Mumbai court, where his lawyer claimed, he had come to surrender before the special judge hearing the matter.

With this, 11 persons have been arrested in the case so far.

The NIA, probing the case, had recently announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for any information leading to the arrest of the accused, Sahim Ahmed Firoz Ahmed.

As per his lawyer Ali Kaashif Khan, his client was arrested from court premises where he had come to surrender before the special court hearing the case.

The lawyer said the probe agency apprehended the accused when the process of filling the surrender application was underway.

Khan dubbed Ahmed's arrest as arbitrary and illegal.

The NIA confirmed the arrest of Ahmed and said he played an active role in the conspiracy related to the murder.

Ahmed (22), a resident of Zakir Colony in Amravati city of eastern Maharashtra, had been on the run since the case was registered three months ago.

With this, the anti-terror agency has so far arrested 11 people in connection with Kolhe's murder.

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The 54-year-old chemist was killed in Amravati on June 21 after he shared on social media a post purportedly supporting suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma over her controversial remarks about Prophet Mohammad.

The case was initially probed by the Amravati police and later handed over to the NIA.

The central agency registered its case on July 2 on directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs under Indian Penal Code Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), and provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

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