Ajmer dargah worker arrested for call to behead Nupur Sharma

The video purportedly showing 'khadim' Salman Chishti was shot before tailor Kanhaiya Lal's murder in Udaipur on June 28 but surfaced on the internet later.

Ajmer Dargah worker Syed Salman Chishti (centre) in police custody, in Ajmer on July 6, 2022. | Photo Credit: PTI

The Rajasthan police arrested a history-sheeter, Salman Chishti, who had allegedly offered to give away his house and property to anyone who beheaded suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma, in Ajmer late on Tuesday night. He is also a khadim (worker) at the historic dargah of Sufi mystic Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer.

Salman Chishti had recorded his announcement before the gruesome murder of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur on June 28, but the video was circulated later, when it was reported to the police. He was on the run since the police registered a case against him earlier this week.

He has a criminal background and is an accused in several cases of attempt to murder, firing, causing hurt and criminal intimidation, most of which were registered at the Ajmer dargah police station. The police, who arrested him from his residence near the shrine, said he might have made his video in an inebriated condition.

Ajmer dargah Dewan (custodian) Syed Zainul Abedin condemned the video and said the view expressed by Salman Chishti should not be considered a message from the shrine. “The dargah is a sacred place of communal harmony. People of all communities visit the shrine for spiritual contentment. These provocative remarks should only be treated as an individual’s statement,” Mr. Abedin said.

Salman Chishti’s video was similar to the one circulated by Riyaz Attari and Ghous Mohammed, who were arrested after they allegedly slit the throat of Kanhaiya Lal.

Salman Chishti was heard saying in his video that he was speaking from Ajmer and this was a message from the durbar of Khwaja Saheb, in an apparent reference to the 13th century Sufi shrine.