The main suspect in the 2007 communal riots in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, Mohammad Shamim, a convicted fugitive, was apprehended and imprisoned on Saturday. Shamim had been missing for 16 years after being granted bail.
The communal riots that resulted in Shamim’s conviction happened in January 2007 after a Hindu man was killed during a Muharram procession in the Kotwali neighbourhood of Gorakhpur.
Shamim and his companions attacked Rajkumar Agrahari, the deceased, with swords and knives. In Gorakhpur, this incident led to widespread racial tension.
A case was filed after Agrahari was killed, which resulted in the detention of Shamim and his father.
After getting bail in August 2007, Shamim was able to avoid arrest for more than ten years. Shamim and his father Shafiqullah were both given life sentences in prison in 2012 in connection with the murder case.
After receiving bail in 2007, Shamim fled to Chennai, according to the investigation.
According to the police, after arriving back in Gorakhpur, he moved into a rented home at Nizampur in the Kotwali neighbourhood. He was ultimately apprehended after the police received information about his whereabouts.
Shafiqullah, Shamim’s father, is currently in prison.
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