NIA officer Mohammed Tanzeel was shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
Highlights
- Two strangers were at the family wedding Mohammed Tanzeel attended
- UP police inquiring whether anyone at wedding can identify the two men
- Police probing whether two men caught on CCTV are Mr Tanzeel's attackers
On video footage from the family wedding in Uttar Pradesh which National Investigation Agency officer Mohammed Tanzeel attended hours before he was shot dead on Saturday night, are two strangers who no one can identify.
The police say they are asking relatives, guests and service providers at the wedding like electricians and catering staff if they know the two men. If they are not identified by Tuesday evening, their photos will be released as suspects in the murder of Mr Tanzeel, senior UP police officer Vijay Meena told NDTV.
The NIA officer's brother Mohammed Raquib too said he had spotted two unknown men at the wedding of their niece. "They didn't belong there. When I asked them who they represented, the bride or the groom, they named my brother-in-law. But they called him Iqbal Singh instead of Mohammed Iqbal," Mr Raquib said.
As he was driving home to Delhi from the wedding in western Uttar Pradesh's Shahaspur town, Mohammad Tanzeel, who was investigating a host of terror cases, was shot at least 16 times by two men who drove up on a motorbike and intercepted the car. His wife Farzana was shot twice and is recovering in hospital.
The officer's children, aged 14 and 11, have told the police that as the first shots were fired, their father asked them to duck.
CCTV footage from a police station less than two km from where the officer was killed shows two men on a motorcycle driving past. The police are investigating whether they are Mr Tanzeel's attackers.
Investigators said the assassins appear to have mapped MrTanzeel's movements to the last detail. They are investigating whether Mr Tanzeel, a popular and respected officer, was killed as result of personal enmity or then because of his work on terror cases.
The NIA, UP Police and other security are together investigating the case, but Mr Tanzeel's family has requested a CBI inquiry.
Mr Tanzeel was investigating cases against suspected ISIS sympathisers and also an arms case that allegedly involved members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).