Lucknow, Oct 18 (IANS): The murder of Hindu leader Kamlesh Tiwari here on Friday has taken a new turn with his wife Kiran Tiwari saying that a cleric from Bijnor was the mastermind behind her husband's killing.

Police sources now claim that Tiwari was possibly on the hit list of the ISIS after he made objectionable remarks against Prophet Mohammad.

According to sources, two suspects arrested by the Gujarat police in 2017 -- Obaid Mirza and Qasim -- had revealed during interrogation that Tiwari was on their hit list.

The two said that they had been shown a video of Tiwari and were asked to eliminate him.

Tiwari, his family sources said, had apprehended a threat to his life and had sought protection. He had even tweeted about this.

Meanwhile, the police said that it appears that the assailants were familiar with the deceased.

"According to the CCTV footage, the killers spent about 23 minutes with Tiwari and had tea with him. They slit his throat with a knife and then sprayed him with bullets. They left after ensuring that he would not survive," said an officer.

The state home department has so far maintained a studied silence over the incident.