Jantar Mantar hate sloganeering: Hindu Raksha Dal chief Pinki Chaudhary surrenders

The chief of Hindu Raksha Dal Bhupinder Tomar alias Pinky Chaudhary has been evading arrest ever since a case of promoting enmity between different groups and defying Covid-19 guidelines was registered on August 8

The chief of Hindu Raksha Dal Bhupinder Tomar alias Pinky Chaudhary surrendered on Tuesday afternoon before the Delhi Police in connection with the Jantar Mantar hate sloganeering case, ending a 22 day-long manhunt that the city police launched to nab him.

Pinki Chaudhary reached Mandir Marg police station around 2:30pm on Tuesday, where over 100 of his supporters lifted him on their shoulders, and took him inside the police station. (PTI)

Chaudhary has been evading arrest ever since a case of promoting enmity between different groups and defying Covid-19 guidelines was registered on August 8, hours after videos of an event — which organisers claimed was held that day near Jantar Mantar to push for the abolition of “colonial-era laws” — showed people shouting anti-Muslim slogans. The Delhi high court, on August 27, and a sessions court, on August 21, rejected Chaudhary’s plea seeking interim protection from arrest in the case.

Chaudhary is the ninth person to be arrested in the case. The others are BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, Uttam Malik, Preet Singh, Deepak Singh, Deepak Kumar, Vinod Sharma, Vinit Bajpai and Sushil Tiwari. Upadhyay has been released on bail.

Chaudhary reached Mandir Marg police station around 2:30pm on Tuesday, where over 100 of his supporters lifted him on their shoulders, and took him inside the police station. The supporters stay put outside the station for around half an hour and chanted slogans, such “ Jai Shri Ram”, and “Pinki Bhaiya tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare sath hain.” Some also recited the ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ before leaving the place

After Chaudhary released a video on Monday claiming to surrender at the Connaught Place police station around Tuesday noon, several police personnel were sent to his home and office in Ghaziabad to arrest him. Police personnel in uniform and in civvies were deployed outside the police station and all routes leading to the station to foil Chaudhary’s surrender plan.

The teams checked every four wheeler halting near the police station.

However, Chaudhary reached the Mandir Marg police station riding pillion on a bike.

“We left with Pinky Bhai in a Scorpio car from our Ghaziabad office and stopped near the Regal building in Connaught Place, where our supporters were waiting on a bike. Pinky Bhai rode pillion and went to the Mandir Marg police station. It was all part of our strategy to ensure the police did not arrest him while he was on his way to the station,” said Amit Prajapati, an office bearer of the Hindu Raksha Dal.

The Hindu Raksha Dal is a right-wing organisation which had claimed responsibility for the violence on JNU campus in January 2020.

A senior police officer, who did not want to be named, said, “Chaudhary came outside the Mandir Marg police station with his supporters. He was apprehended and taken to the special staff’s office in the station premises. Chaudhary was arrested and later shifted to the Connaught Place police station.”

Police said they will produce Chaudhary before the court on Wednesday and seek his custody for further investigation.