Nagpur: Independent legislator Ravi Rana, who has extended his support to the ruling Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena and BJP, on Friday demanded an investigation by SIT into the phone call by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to the Amravati police commissioner for allegedly exerting pressure on police to change the direction of probe into the death of a pharmacist Umesh Kolhe as robbery.
Rana also demanded that SIT should investigate Thackeray’s phone call to the Amravati police commissioner for allegedly suppressing the matter.
Minister Sambhuraj Desai in his reply to a calling attention motion moved by Rana in the state assembly said that the state intelligence department (SID) in a fortnight will prepare a report in the case.
‘’The SID report will be handed over to the Deputy Chief Minister (who holds the home department) and thereafter a suitable decision will be taken. Detailed information about the Umesh Kolhe case will be taken from Ravi Rana as he has objected to the functioning of the Amravati police commissioner,’’ said Desai.
Rana approached Amit Shah
Rana, who has been criticising Thackeray on a number of issues including ban on chanting of Hanuman Chalisa in front of Matoshree, claimed that the then CM based on the Congress leader’s request asked the Amravati police to conduct the investigation into Kolhe’s death as a robber case.
‘’MP Navneet Rana and I went to Home Minister Amit Shah and told him that the Chief Minister of the state was trying to suppress the matter. Thereafter, the home minister handed over the investigation to the NIA and its probe has revealed that Kolhe was killed because of posts in support of Nupur Sharma," he said.
Umesh Kolhe murdered over his posts supporting Nupur Sharma
On June 21, Umesh Kolhe, the director of Amit Medicals, was going home on a motorcycle after closing his shop, when he was stabbed to death in the Ghantaghar area of Shyam Chowk at Amravati at around 10.30 pm. In this case, the city Kotwali police registered a case of murder and arrested six people.
Desai’s announcement came days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said in its chargesheet that Umesh Kolhe, a pharmacist from Amravati, Maharashtra, who had shared social media posts backing BJP leader Nupur Sharma, was murdered by “radicalised Islamists of Tablighi Jamaat" to avenge the alleged insult to Prophet Muhammad,
