Ahmedabad: Seven persons were arrested by
the city police crime branch on Saturday in connection with the
murder of RTI activist and a witness in 2002 Naroda Patiya
riot case, Nadeem Ahmed Sayed.
"Seven persons were arrested today from the Naroda
extension here, who are directly linked with the murder of RTI
activist Nadeem Ahmed Syed," Deputy Commissioner of Police
Crime Branch Himanshu Shukla told reporters.
"Investigations are underway, and soon we would come to
know about the motive behind the gruesome murder and from
where they had arranged for weapons and cars," he said.
Those arrested were Mohd Sharif alias Kaalu Gardan,
one of the key accused, Mohd Sarfraz alia Palpal, Mohd Irfan
alias Arif, Naseerudin Khatiyara, Mohd Sadiq Sheikh, Asif Ali
alias Rock and Gulaam Hussain alias Painter.
"Some of those arrested like Kaalu Gardan have criminal
history. They were arrested earlier in connection with a case
under IPC 302," Shukla said.
Nadeem Syed was stabbed several times with sharp-edged
weapons on November 5 in Juhapura extension here. He had
raised many RTI queries on the Godhra riots and related
incidents.
His murder was also linked to the clash between the
slaughter house owners and police early this week where two
policemen were injured and a police jeep was torched by a mob.
"The assailants after murdering Syed were on the run.
They first fled away to Viramgam, then to Udaipur, Ajmer and
Muzzafarnagar, before returning back to Ahmedabad," he said
adding that acting on a tip-off, the police managed to arrest
them.
The deceased, a Congress worker, was a witness in the
Naroda Patiya case, where 95 persons were killed on February,
28, 2002 during the communal violence that erupted after the
Godhra train burning incident.
The court where the case trial was on, had recorded
Sayed’s statements couple of months back.
PTI
