Gandhinagar, Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi on Friday said that a Muslim cleric (Maulvi) provided the revolver and bullets to 30-year old Hindu youth Kishan Boliya Bharwad's murderers. He has since been arrested.

On January 25, Kishan Boliya was shot dead by some persons who came on a bike on a public road in Dhandhuka. He had allegedly shared a blasphemous social media post which had angered some people.

Sanghavi said, "It was shocking that a Maulvi gave a revolver and five bullets for the murder. Radicalization of youths is unacceptable. Putting my hand on the head of the 20 days old daughter of Kishan Bharwad, I vowed and assured the family of timely justice."

"A 20-day-old innocent child's father Kishanbhai was brutally murdered. Ram Bapu, Zanzarka Gadi Pati, our district leaders, minister Kiritsinhji and other persons demanded that teams should be formed immediately to reach to the truth in this case. An urgent decision was made and action was taken within an hour. The Ahmedabad district police formed various teams and through them, the probe was initiated into all aspects of this case," informed the minister.

"Some murders are done in anger, some murders are executed for revenge, but this murder is special. This murder is a case of conspiracy. When an in-depth probe was carried out, we received the details on why this murder case is special. The details surfaced how murders were motivated," added Sanghavi.

"A revolver with which a 20-day-old child's father was killed was provided to the murderers by a Maulvi. Lakhs and crores of people like me are jointly marching ahead for the development of Gujarat. They are saddened to know that those people responsible for proper guidance, actually motivated the youths to commit a murder. The youths who committed the murder were quite young. Radicalization of youths is unacceptable. The Ahmedabad Crime Branch has nabbed the Maulvi responsible for this crime. The youths who committed the murder of Kishanbhai were given a revolver and five cartridges by this Maulvi," said Sanghavi.

"Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, State party chief CR Paatil and other leaders have demanded that such cases must be investigated in a very serious manner and the Anti Terrorist Squad, Gujarat, Ahmedabad Crime Branch are probing it," added Sanghavi.

The state government has asked the district police to appoint a Special Public Prosecutor if required. It has assured that it will rope in the best lawyers and give justice to the family of Kishanbhai.

"We held a meeting with community leaders. They have thanked the Ahmedabad district police personnel who have not gone to their homes for the last three days. I promise you that I will ensure timely justice. I have talked to various community leaders and appealed to them to maintain peace so that the police can concentrate on the probe and its attention is not diverted elsewhere," Sanghavi said.

Dhandhuka, Dhrangadhra, Surendranagar and many other towns in Saurashtra observed a strike and held protests over the murder of Kishan. Two people who executed the crime were nabbed earlier.

A large rally was also held in Southern Gujarat town Navsari protesting the murder. Such protests were also reported from Vadodara.

"It appears that this murder was part of a planned conspiracy. At times, people from different communities act out of rage and we sort out such acts of anger by counselling them. But this is totally different and radicalization of youths seems to be behind this," said Virendra Singh Yadav, Superintendent of Police, Ahmedabad (Rural).