Police in Haryana on Tuesday arrested the leader of a vigilante group devoted to protecting cows, who had been accused of inciting deadly religious riots near New Delhi in July.
Monu Manesar, whose official name is Mohit Yadav, leads a chapter of the radical Hindu right-wing group Bajrang Dal and is a suspect in the February mob lynching of two Muslim men accused of cow smuggling.
Cows are considered sacred by Hindus and their slaughter is illegal in many Indian states.
Manesar remained free and continued to post inflammatory, anti-Muslim content regularly on Facebook and Instagram for months after the authorities linked him to the murders.
In July, he announced plans to attend a Hindu procession in Nuh, a largely Muslim district near the capital. At least six people were killed and dozens more injured in the resulting unrest, which continued for days and spilt over to Delhi’s outskirts.
Police officers said that at least six members of a special investigation team of the Haryana police on Tuesday ambushed Manesar after he had gone to a nearby market and caught him around noon.
By 3.30pm, Manesar was produced in court and was ordered to be put in 14 days of judicial custody.
Nuh district police officer Shubhjeet Singh confirmed Manesar’s arrest on charges of spreading hateful content on social media.
“Prior to the Aug 26 online post that threatened a Nuh rally with an attack, we did not have a formal case on which we could make an arrest,” a Haryana police officer told the Hindustan Times.
Police officers said they made the arrest only after ascertaining the threatening post was indeed made by Manesar.
“Facebook provided us with the mobile phone number linked to the account. Investigations showed that the SIM card of the number was issued to a person named Mohit in Manesar and we went to get his address,” said an officer.
Manesar was later handed over to the police in Rajasthan, where charges have been registered against him over the February double murder.
Manesar has repeatedly denied the charges in the Bhiwani double-murder case and Nuh violence. After his name cropped up at the centre of communal clashes that broke out during a procession in Nuh, Manesar claimed that he was not there and certainly did not give any “hate speech” that could have led to the violent communal clashes.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad on Tuesday described Manesar as an “innocent cow-devotee” and alleged that the Congress government in Rajasthan got him arrested ahead of assembly polls in the state with an eye on Muslim votes.
VHP working president Alok Kumar said the arrest by the Rajasthan Police will cost the ruling Congress “heavily” in the state. VHP will provide help to Manesar and “if necessary, will also protest” against his arrest, he added.
Manesar ultimately did not attend the July procession in Nuh, which saw cars set alight and stones hurled at participants.
The violence soon spread to nearby Gurugram, a key business centre and satellite city of Delhi where Nokia, Samsung and other multinationals have their Indian headquarters.
In one neighbourhood, a mob of around 200 people armed with sticks and stones looted several Muslim-owned meat shops and set fire to a restaurant while chanting Hindu religious slogans.
Manesar regularly posted videos celebrating attacks on Muslims accused of transporting or killing cows.
AFP
