OP Singh said, “A joint team of UP and Gujarat Police has detained 3 persons and interrogating them. Their names are Maulana Mohsin Sheikh, Faizan, & Khurshid Ahmed Pathan. Two other accused were also detained but released later, they are being monitored.”

UP DGP confirmed the murder of the Hindu leader Kamlesh Tiwari to be a radical killing and held the Hindu Samaj Party leader’s objectionable 2015 comments on Prophet Muhammad as the reason behind the killing.

“Prima facie this was a radical killing, these people were radicalized by the speech that he [Kamlesh Tiwari] gave in 2015, but much more can come out when we catch hold of the remaining criminals,” he added.

In the FIR, two people were named as conspirators, Maulana Anwarul Haq and Mufti Naeem Qazmi. These 2 have also been detained and they’re being questioned.

No terror link found

While initially Islamic State was believed to be behind the killings, no link with any terrorist organisation has been found.

OP Singh further said, “In the initial interrogation no criminal background of the three people, who have been detained, has been established yet. If needed, we will take them into remand, bring them to UP and question them.

UP DGP OP Singh said the police are working on the case in collaboration with Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

The gruesome murder of the president of a little-known Hindu Samaj Party at his home in Khurshed Bagh in Lucknow has created outrage with demands for swift justice and allegations of police inaction.

Kamlesh Tiwari was brutally murdered at his home at Khursheda Bagh in Lucknow on Friday afternoon.