According to Bhawarlal Thoda, a city administrator in Udaipur, the tailor had told police he had been threatened after making a post on social media in support of Sharma’s controversial comments.
“The terrorists executed my father in the most shocking way, the country must stand by our family to demand justice,” the victim’s son, Yash, said after his father’s body was cremated .
He said the culprits should be tried and sentenced to death, and denied that his father had made any comments that were offensive to other religions.
Hindu hardline organizations held protests in the capital New Delhi to condemn Teli’s assassination and more protests were planned for Thursday.
Politicians and prominent Islamic preachers have also condemned the assassination.
“The incident has shocked supporters of Islam, the atrocious act committed by two men is absolutely anti-Islamic,” said Maulana Ahmed Siddiqui, a Udaipur-based Muslim cleric.
“The mood is tense and almost all the shops are closed today,” Thoda said in Udaipur. The city of about half a million inhabitants is one of the main tourist attractions of the desert state, and is known for its luxury hotels, including the famous Taj Lake Palace.
Authorities said they had suspended Internet services in some parts of Rajasthan to stop the circulation of the killers’ video, and called on social media platforms to immediately remove any content that encourages, glorifies or justifies the murder by “avoid any incitement and interruption from the public”. order and restore public peace and harmony ”.
India has a long history of religious violence and thousands of people have been killed since the country became independent from British colonial rule in 1947.
Modi’s search for a “first Hindu” agenda since he came to power in 2014 has fueled tensions in a country where Muslims make up about 13% of its 1.4 billion people.
Earlier this month, the BJP suspended Sharma from the party for making offensive comments about the Prophet and expelled another official, but the fury has not subsided.
Modi has not commented on the murder in Udaipur. But former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who belongs to the BJP, blamed the Congress Party, which now runs the state, for the “communal frenzy and violence” that has emerged there.
Raje said that “such acts can occur because the state government offers tacit support to criminals.”
Although Congress has defended secular values in India since independence, the BJP has seen it as a pro-Muslim party to distance Hindus from its main opposition.
Rajasthan, with a population of about 69 million, is just one of two Indian states where Congress has a majority in the state legislature, and is due to hold elections next year.