Monu Manesar to be brought to Gurugram on production warrant: Police

Mohit Yadav, a member of the right-wing group Bajrang Dal, was arrested on September 12 by the Nuh police for making an incendiary post on social media

The Gurugram police will bring cow vigilante Mohit Yadav, better known as Monu Manesar, from Rajasthan to Haryana’s Pataudi in Gurugram district in connection with an attempt to murder case registered there in February, police officers aware of the matter said on Sunday.

Mohit Yadav, better known as Monu Manesar, in the custody of Rajasthan Police in Bharatpur. (HT Photo)

Read here: WhatsApp chats reveal link between Monu Manesar, Bishnoi gang: Rajasthan Police

Varun Dahiya, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said that Yadav will be brought from Bharatpur in Rajasthan on September 25 on a production warrant and that once the investigation begins, they will decide how long he will be held.

Yadav, a member of the right-wing group Bajrang Dal, was arrested on September 12 by the Nuh police for making an incendiary post on social media on August 26, and later taken into custody by the Rajasthan police in connection with the murders of two Muslim men from Rajasthan, Junaid and Nasir, in February.

Yadav had also made a video in late July over a religious procession in Haryana’s Nuh. A Brajmandal Jalabhishek Yatra was abandoned on July 31 after it led to clashes in Muslim-majority Nuh, violence that was prompted by comments made by Yadav and others.

Yadav also had announced participation in the protest, which became controversial since he had been absconding over the murder cases.

Until his arrest, Yadav had been at large for more than eight months.

The Pataudi case for which the production warrant for Yadav has been issued dates to February 7, when a clash broke out between the Muslim and Dalit communities in Babarshah colony over an intercaste wedding. According to police, a 22-year-old Muslim woman had eloped with a Dalit man from Pataudi on January 30, and the woman’s family lodged a complaint against the man and his family under Section 346 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code at the Pataudi police station.

Later, when 20 people went to talk to the girl’s family, residents of the neighbourhood allegedly pelted stones at them.

The Muslims, on the other hand, alleged that one of them, Mobin Khan, a relative of the woman, had gone to buy groceries from a local shop and members of Bajrang Dal assaulted and shot him in the stomach.

The police said they registered cross FIRs after both parties submitted a complaint blaming the other.

Monu Manesar, a complainant in one of the cases, had a different version. “We were discussing the issue with members of the Dalit Kalyan Board when we heard a gunshot and came out. There were around 200 people standing outside carrying weapons. They started pelting stones and assaulted our members. Also, they vandalised our cars and took ₹3 lakh kept in the dash board,” he had said.

In this case registered at the Pataudi police station, based on Mobin Khan’s complaint, Yadav is facing charges under sections 147 (riot), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 307 (attempt to murder), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) of the Indian Penal Code.

According to Dahiya, the district court issued a production warrant on Saturday to investigate the aforementioned charges. “According to the court’s orders, he will be brought to the Pataudi police station on September 25 for further investigation and legal proceedings. We did not arrest him earlier in this case because the complaint had been withdrawn, and a quashing of the FIR had been requested from the court,” he said.

The case was reopened after the violence broke out in Nuh.

Read here: Bhiwani killings: Monu Manesar sent to 15-day judicial custody

Yadav is a gau rakshak (cow protector) who has spent years documenting his group’s activities on his YouTube channel, “Monu Manesar Bajrang Dal,” which has lakhs of subscribers and hundreds of videos of his group purportedly chasing down those who smuggled cows for their meat. Most videos show high-speed chases, some show a gunfight, and others show him and his men triumphantly standing next to people they have intercepted. The first of these videos was released on January 18, 2017.

Yadav has a rap sheet of three FIRs dating back eight years, including sections of attempt to murder and criminal intimidation. However, he had never been arrested prior to September 12.