4 men who vandalised Salman Khurshid house arrested, key suspect missing: Police
The November 15 protest over Salman Khurshid’s book , in which he has allegedly compared Hindutva with terrorist groups Boko Haram and ISIS, soon got out of hand. The Congress leader’s house was vandalised and shots fired.
HALDWANI: Four men suspected to be part of the group that vandalised Congress leader Salman Khurshid’s house in Nainital district on November 15 have been arrested, Nainital police officers said on Thursday.
Among the four is Chandan Singh Lodhiyal, the 27-year-old who allegedly fired shots at the former Union minister’s house. A pistol has also been seized from him. The other three have been identified by police as Umesh Mehta, 30, Krishna Singh Bisht, 30, and Rajkumar Mehta, 29.
Kumaon deputy inspector general Nilesh Anand Bharane said three teams were formed to identify and arrest the accused who pelted stones, fired shots and set a part of the house on fire.
He said four persons have been arrested and the main accused, Rakesh Kapil, will also be arrested soon. “If the accused are not caught, a warrant will be issued against them,” the officer added.
Bhowali circle officer Bhupinder Singh Dhoni said the four were arrested on a tip-off that they were trying to escape from the district. They were arrested on Ramgarh road by a team led by police station in-charge Ashok Kumar.
“During the protest, Chandan Singh opened fire at the house. The other three have admitted to protesting and misbehaving with the caretaker of the house,” he added.
The November 15 protest over the veteran politician’s book, Sunrise over Ayodhya: Nationhood in Our Times, in which he has allegedly compared Hindutva with terrorist groups Boko Haram and ISIS, soon got out of hand. According to police, when Sundar Ram, the caretaker of Khurshid’s house, protested the group vandalising the property, the miscreants abused and misbehaved with his wife Nandi Devi and daughter-in-law Anita Devi as well.
The violence prompted a sharp counterattack from Salman Khurshid and the Congress who insisted that police arrest the perpetrators. When there was no progress, Congress spokesperson Deepak Balutia demanded that the attack be probed by a high court judge, claiming that the attackers were linked to the ruling BJP.
BJP’s Nainital unit chief Pradeep Bisht rejected suggestions that BJP workers were involved in the attack. “There should be an inquiry into the matter as it was not BJP workers or leaders. It is not proper to hold BJP responsible for anything in this matter as arrest or investigation is the job of the police. Congress has a habit of levelling allegations,” he said.
The Congress, however, steered clear of backing Khurshid on his comments in the book that provoked angry reactions from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and even the Congress ally in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena. Without referring to the book, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi did call for the need to differentiate between Hindutva and Hinduism, saying the former encourages violence and the latter preaches peace and harmony.
Khurshid’s book ‘Sunrise over Ayodhya’, has sections wherein he compared Hindutva with terrorist groups Boko Haram and ISIS. In a chapter titled ‘The Saffron Sky’ in the newly launched book, Khurshid has written, “Sanatan Dharma and classical Hinduism known to sages and saints were being pushed aside by a robust version of Hindutva, by all standards a political version similar to the jihadist Islam of groups like ISIS and Boko Haram of recent years.”
BJP leaders have accused Khurshid and the Congres of “weaving a web” against Hindus. “All this happens at the behest of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Earlier the term Hindu terrorism was invented in the Congress office,” party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said soon after the controversial comment in the book was reported last week.
In his defence, Khurshid said:“I have not called these guys terrorists, I have just said they are similar in distorting religion. What Hindutva has done, it has pushed aside Sanatan Dharma and Hinduism and it has taken over a robust, aggressive position similar to Boko Haram and those other guys,” he said. After his house was vandalised, Salman Khurshid put out photos of the violence and asked,” Am I still wrong to say this cannot be Hinduism?”