'I support Nupur Sharma' — how a single WhatsApp forward 'led to Amravati chemist's murder'

Amravati: A picture of a poster with the words ‘I Support Nupur Sharma’ shared on a WhatsApp group is believed to have set in motion a chain of events that ended in the death of Umesh Kolhe on 21 June. According to the police, the post forwarded by Kolhe, a 54-year-old chemist who lived in Maharashtra’s Amravati city, was further forwarded by a friend of the victim, Dr Yousuf Khan, to other WhatsApp groups, one of which included Sheikh Irfan Rahim Khan, alias Irfan Khan — a 35-year-old who then allegedly plotted to kill Kolhe. Irfan Khan, who the Maharashtra Police are calling the “mastermind” behind the incident, allegedly stabbed Kolhe to death for supporting the comments on the Prophet Muhammad made by Nupur Sharma, a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson, during a national TV debate in May. According to a senior Maharashtra Police officer, Khan planned the killing with five of his colleagues and then carried it out. Khan runs an NGO, Rehbar, which helps Muslims living in the city. The incident took place days before the brutal killing of a tailor in Udaipur, Rajasthan, over a social media post in support of Nupur Sharma, but the details…
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