Monu Manesar being interrogated, will be produced in court tomorrow: Police
Monu Manesar is accused of killing two men from Rajasthan in February, and of allegedly making remarks that were among the triggers for the communal clashes in Nuh in July
Cow vigilante Monu Manesar alias Mohit Yadav is being interrogated and police are trying to collect evidence against him, Rajasthan’s Deeg superintendent of police (SP) Brijesh Jyoti Upadhyay said on Wednesday in Bharatpur.
Manesar, a Bajrang Dal functionary, was on Tuesday arrested from Haryana, ending an eight-month-long hunt.
He is accused of killing two men from Rajasthan in February, and of allegedly making remarks that were among the triggers for the communal clashes in Nuh in July.
Manesar posted inflammatory videos on social media before Hindu and Muslim groups clashed during the Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad’s Shobha Yatra in Nuh, police said.
Also Read: Bhiwani killings: How pride intertwines with fear, ‘gau raksha’ and Monu Manesar in Haryana
According to the SP, Manesar has been kept in Mathura Gate police station in Bharatpur while the police complaint was registered against him along with four others in Gopalgarh police station in Mewat region of Deeg district.
“We are interrogating him and trying to collect evidence. Police have to get strong evidence about his involvement in the Junaid and Nasir murders case in the Bhiwani district of Haryana on February 16,” said Upadhyay.
He added, “We are not in any condition to say that he was directly or indirectly involved in the Bhiwani murders. Police will present him before the court on Thursday and decide to take him on police remand.”
The SP said that after the interrogation, Manesar will be produced before the district court on Thursday.
According to the SP, following the Nuh clash in which his named surface, Manesar flew to Thailand fearing his arrest and stayed there for a few days.
“A Special Investigation Team was constituted to investigate Bhiwani murders. Monu Manesar was taken to police custody from Haryana police on Tuesday. Others absconded and wanted accused will be arrested soon to present charge sheet in the court,” Inspector General of Police (Bharatpur range) said.
Meanwhile, following his arrest, Haryana state president of Hindu Yuwa Vahini Sandeep Walia has threatened protests and roadblocks and has asked the Haryana government to take the decision to bring him back within 2-3 days.
Walia further claimed that Manesar is innocent of the alleged murder in Bhiwani involving two Muslim men.
Manesar, an engineering student joined the cow vigilante group in 2009 after Vikrant Yadav, a member of the cow vigilante team, was killed.
On 15 February 2023, Nasir (25) and Junaid (35) were allegedly kidnapped by cow vigilantes led by Manesar on suspicion of cow smuggling in the Nuh district of Haryana. The duo were brutally beaten, then put in a car and burnt alive.
Their charred bodies were found inside a vehicle in Haryana’s Bhiwani district on February 16. The families of the deceased said they were beaten and murdered by members of the Bajrang Dal.
Manesar was arrested over 6 months after the incident by the Rajasthan police. Three more of the eight accused were arrested previously. In addition, over a dozen people are under suspicion.