Udaipur killing: In video shot on June 17, accused warned he will start beheading
It was a murder foretold. On June 17, eleven days before Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari was to hack 47-year-old Kanhaiya Lal to death and proudly take responsibility for the killing in a viral video, he had warned that he would do just that. And urged others to follow his lead once he committed the first murder.
On that day, dressed in a cream kurta and a green turban across his head, Akhtari began a 2 minute 33 second video, identifying himself by name, the date, and his location of Khanjipith. The video began with a promise. Akhtari said that he would make the video he was currently recording “viral” on the day he beheaded those that had committed an offence against Islam.
Riyaz then goes on to say that while he will begin the process of beheading, those that are left in “Sector 11”, others will have to do. Lal lived in Udaipur’s Sector 11. “Don’t worry brother, about what will happen to family, what will happen to your business. I also have a family, and I have a job. I have no worries about this because I am living for my “rasul-e-pak” (Prophet),” he said.
Asking others to follow his lead, he asks them to not be afraid. “If death comes, it is heaven. If we go to jail, there is no worry,” he said.
In an apparent reference to community elders, Akhtari pointed to green bangles kept next to him, and said, “You have no courage to speak out against non-Muslims. You are not capable of taking action, you should just wear these bangles.”
A relative of Riyaz said that he originally hailed from Bhilwara, but left the district for Dubai in 2002. “Since then, he hasn’t returned,” the relative said.
Officials said that Gaus Mohammed, who had filmed the attack on Kanhaiya Lal and then appeared in the video claiming responsibility for the attack waving a knife, ran a grocery shop.
Late on Tuesday night, Rajasthan police suspended assistant sub inspector of the Dhan Mandi police station for dereliction of duty.
