Title: Hyderabad jeweller
killed by fundamentalists
Author: The Times of
India News Service
Publication: The Sunday
Times of India
Date: April 9, 2000
No arrests had been made
till Saturday in the case of jeweller Mahaveer Prasad Modi's murder on
Thursday night. Mr Modi was shot at point blank range in his shop in the
crowded Siddiambazar area here.
Police believe that Islamic
fundamentalists carried out the killing as part of a jehad ('holy war').
Mr Modi was killed about
four hours after Azam Ghori of the Indian Muslim Mujahideen was shot dead
by the police in Jagtial of Karimnagar district. Police commissioner S.R.
Sukumara told the Times of India News Service that though it was unlikely
that Mr Modi's killing was in retaliation, it was possible that Ghori's
mujahideen had planned and carried out the killing. A low-intensity improvised
explosive device (IED) was planed outside the shop to go off about 20 minutes
later, but it failed to explode.
Similar bombs were used
in explosions in cinema theatres in Nanded, Maharashtra, and in Metpally,
Karimnagar district. The bombs were an indication that fundamentalists
were involved, the police said.
The jeweller was believed
to be a sympathiser of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and apparently paid with
his life for ordering frisking of some three women customers after suspecting
them of shoplifting.
