Bharatpur murder case: Two more arrested from Rajasthan - Hindustan Times
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Bharatpur murder case: Two more arrested from Rajasthan

Apr 14, 2023 04:02 PM IST

The charred bodies of the two cousins (Junaid, 35 and Nasir, 27), were found inside a vehicle in Haryana’s Bhiwani district on February 16

Close to two months after two Muslim men from Bharatpur were found burnt to death in a car in Bhiwani, ostensibly kidnapped, attacked and set on fire by cow vigilantes, the Rajasthan Police on Friday arrested two more men, identified as Monu Rana and Gogi for the killings.

The charred bodies of the two men were found inside a vehicle in Haryana’s Bhiwani district on February 16. (PTI file image)
The charred bodies of the two men were found inside a vehicle in Haryana’s Bhiwani district on February 16. (PTI file image)

A day after the incident on February 16, the police had arrested Rinku Saini, one of the eight men named as suspects. To be sure, the Monu Rana arrested on Friday, a resident of Bhiwani, is not Monu Manesar, considered the leader of cow vigilantism in Gurugram and its adjoining areas, who the police said they intend to detain and question.

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The charred bodies of the two victims, 35-year-old Junaid and 27-year-old Nasir, were found inside a burnt vehicle in Haryana’s Bhiwani, 165 kilometres away from the Piruka forest area in Rajasthan where they were waylaid by suspected cow vigilantes. The families of the victims had claimed that they were beaten and murdered by cow vigilantes connected to “Gau Raksha Dals” and the Bajrang Dal- a claim that these outfits have rejected.

Also Read: Cow vigilantism was reason behind Bharatpur killing: Rajasthan police

Gaurav Srivastava, Inspector General of Police, Bharatpur range said that the two men arrested on Friday were arrested from Dehradun. “The preliminary interrogation with the two has revealed that the victims were beaten brutally, and when their condition became critical, they approached the Haryana police who refused to accept the men because they were so badly beaten,” a senior police official said.

After the Haryana police refused to take custody of the two injured Muslim men, Junaid died in Firozpur Jhirka and Nasir was strangled to death in Bhiwani, Rajasthan police officials said. “The accused burnt the bodies so that they cannot be identified, and even if the bodies are identified the case will be lodged in Haryana, and they believed the Rajasthan police will not be able to do much,” Srivastava said.

The Rajasthan Police said that earlier this week, they received information that these two men were hiding in the police station limits of Matogi in Uttarakhand, after which they were traced and arrested under sections of kidnapping, abduction with intent to cause grievous harm, and murder.

He said that Rajasthan Police investigations have shown that the men accused in the murder- at least five more named accused are yet to be arrested- are members of Haryana based cow vigilante groups that operate in Jind, Bhiwani, Karana, Kaithal and Panipat districts.

The senior police official said that they were still investigating the role of Monu Manesar, but there is little clear evidence, and they want to detain him for an interrogation.

The police had arrested Rinku Saini, a resident of Ferozepur Jhirka (Haryana), on February 17. A reward of 10,000 each was announced on eight identified as accused -- Anil and Srikant Pandit from Nuh, Kalu Jaat from Kaithal, Kishore from Karnal, Monu and Gogi from Bhiwani, Vikas and Sashikant Sharma from Jind. The police released their photos on February 22.

Srivastava said that over the past two months, Rajasthan Police teams have camped in Jind, Bhiwani, Karnal and Kaithal to search for the accused. “A route chart that the accused used was prepared by cyber and technical teams. They abducted Nasir and Junaid from village Piruka Jothri and proceeded to Naugawa, Mundaka border, Firozpur Jhirka, Tijara, Tapukda, Khushkheda, Bawal (Rewari), Mahendergarh (Haryana), Charkhi Dadri, Barbas village of Luharu police station area, and reached Bani forest where they killed and set the duo on fire inside their SUV. Toll booths and CCTV footage and technical evidence of those falling in the route chart were collected,” the police officer said.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Sachin Saini is Special Correspondent for Rajasthan. He covers politics, tourism, forest, home, panchayati raj and rural development, and development journalism.

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