Five taken into police custody for murder of UP political outfit president

Five persons, including three in Surat, have been taken into custody in connection with the killing of Kamlesh Tiwari, the president of a little-known Hindu Samaj Party, police said on Saturday.

Police have taken into custody Mohammed Mufti Naeem Kazmi and Imam Maulana Anwarul Haq, who were named in the FIR in Uttar Pradesh, state Director General of Police OP Singh said at a press conference.

"The three persons who have been taken into custody in Surat are Mohsin Sheikh, Faizan and Rashid Ahmed. So far there is no terror angle associated with this incident," Singh said.

The Uttar Pradesh police and their Gujarat counterparts are interrogating the persons taken into custody, the DGP said.

Tiwari (45), earlier associated with a faction of the Hindu Mahasabha, was killed at his home in Khurshed Bagh under the Naka Hindola police station area here on Friday.

"Prime facie it seems that Tiwari was murdered due to his controversial statement made in 2015. There is a possibility," the DGP said as he ruled out any terror angle.

An FIR had been registered against three persons in connection with the killing.