Maharashtra govt to probe whether Uddhav Thackeray influenced Amravati killing case

The Maharashtra government on Friday ordered a probe into whether former CM Uddhav Thackeray had tried to influence the Amravati police probe into the killing of pharmacist Umesh Kolhe earlier this year. For the unversed, Kolhe, 54, was murdered in Amravati on June 21 this year by a group of people for sharing a message defending former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s objectionable comment on Prophet Muhammad on a public WhatsApp group that triggered a nationwide outrage.

Responding to a calling attention motion by the independent MLA Ravi Rana, Maharashtra minister Shambhuraje Desai told the state assembly that State Intelligence Department (SID) will investigate whether Thackeray had asked the Amravati commissioner of police Arti Singh to examine the robbery angle in Kolhe’s killing. The case is now being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).This is the second big blow for the Thackerays, coming a day after Shinde government announced a SIT to probe the killing of former celebrity manager Disha Salian. Several ruling alliance leaders have alleged involvement of Aditya Thackeray in Salian’s death, though he has strongly denied it.