About 3 km from the Udaipur market, where Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor, was murdered on Tuesday, there is a small general store on the ground floor of a two-storey house in Raza Colony. The shop is closed, as is the house. Two police constables stand guard outside. Both the shop and the house belong to Ghaus Mohammad, one of the two men who killed Lal.
The colony is part of the larger Khanjipir locality in Udaipur, a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood. Neighbors said Ghosh, in his 30s, mostly kept to himself. “He was deeply religious. He kept it to himself. We never heard of his name being associated with any kind of violence,” said Mohammad Rafiq, a resident.
Another neighbor, Mohamed Omar, said that Ghaus, a father of two, was previously a “collections agent” at an investment agency. “Many people from this area used to make daily recurring deposits with him. Many people lost their money after the company was caught on fraud charges. After this he opened a general store with his father.
“No father or mother would want their children to be criminals. This is due to external influence. A day after the incident, his father broke down and said, ‘What did it do. He should neither take care of my respect nor take care of my old age’ (What did he do? He neither cared about my honor nor my old age). Shortly after that the family left the house.
A few houses away, down a descending street, is the house where the second accused, Mohammad Riaz, also 30 years old, lived. The house is locked and policemen are stationed outside.
“I had rented two rooms on the ground floor to Riyaz – he came here on June 12. Riyaz is a welder, and was living here with his wife and two children. I didn’t find anything suspicious about him. I had asked him for some rent in advance but he said that he cannot pay it. His family left after the incident. I have not received my rent yet,” said the landlord, also named Mohammad Umar.
Qayyum Baig, a welder who had previously worked with Riyaz, said he has been working in Udaipur for the past two decades.
A senior police officer who was part of the probe team said that prima facie it appears that Riyaz had welded the knife used to kill Lal.