Madhya Pradesh: Top cop gets threats from ‘rioter’ over arrests

A right-wing hardliner once accused of engineering a communal flare-up in Madhya Pradesh’s Harda has allegedly threatened similar violence if police did not stop “harassing” Hindus” over the assault on a Muslim couple allegedly by members of a cow protection group.

A right-wing hardliner once accused of engineering a communal flare-up in Madhya Pradesh’s Harda has allegedly threatened similar violence if police did not stop “harassing” Hindus” over the assault on a Muslim couple allegedly by members of a cow protection group.

Police at the Khirkiya railway station on Friday where right-wing activists attacked a Muslim couple after accusing them of carrying beef. On Saturday, local VHP and RSS units distanced themselves from such vigilantes, calling the attack a conspiracy(HT Photo)

The alleged threat by Surendra Singh Rajpurohit alias ‘Tiger’ was made to Harda superintendent of police (SP) Prem Babu Sharma on his mobile phone, the officer said on Saturday.

Rajpurohit, however, denied the charge though an audio clip containing the purported threat has gone viral in the state.

The alleged threat was made in the backdrop of police arresting nine people in the district after Hindu right-wing activists belonging to a cow protection group allegedly assaulted a Muslim couple on a train in Harda on the suspicion of carrying beef on Wednesday.

Police later said it was buffalo meat found in another passenger’s luggage. The couple was travelling from Khandwa to hometown Harda on the Kushinagar Express.

During the phone call Rajpurohit, who formed Gau Raksha commando force in 2007, accuses the SP of only taking action against Hindus due to some pressure. Rajpurohit tells SP had he forgotten what happened in September 2013, when riots had broken out in Harda following allegations of Muslims killing a calf. Houses and business establishments of several Muslim families were torched. Postmortem reports had later proved that the calf had died after consuming polythene bags.

Responding to this, a person purported to be Rajpurohit said he too would die for the cause of the Hindus and won’t allow any atrocities on them.

Talking to HT on phone, Prem Shankar Sharma confirmed receiving a call from Rajpurohit.

Rajpurohit wielded such clout in the district that he wore uniform similar to military fatigues and forced people to prostate in front of him and also stomped on them. He openly carried arms.