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Monu Manesar denies his role in Bhiwani double murder, Nuh clashes
Monu Munesar, head of Bajrang Dal’s cow vigilante wing, has claimed that he was not present in the religious procession on Monday in Nuh Mewat of Haryana and certainly did not give any “hate speech” that may have led to the violent communal clashes
Monu Manesar has denied his involvement in the Bhiwani double murder case in which two Muslim cattle traders were hacked to death and the recent communal violence after his name cropped up at the centre of communal clashes that broke out during a procession in the Haryana’s Nuh Mewat district on Monday.
Munesar, head of Bajrang Dal’s cow vigilante wing, has claimed that he was not present in the religious procession on Monday in Nuh Mewat of Haryana and certainly did not give any “hate speech” that may have led to the violent communal clashes.
Speaking to Hindustan Times over the phone on Tuesday, Manesar said: “I fully believe Rajasthan police to clear cut investigation into Bhiwani double murder case. I had already shared videos through social media platforms claiming that I was not involved in the Bhiwani murders.”
Speaking over the Haryana violence which has claimed six lives so far, he said, “The violence in Nuh Mewat district of Haryana is unfortunate where people from a specific community attacked on the procession of Bajrang Dal and Vishv Hindu Parishad (VHP). The religious process has been continuing for the last three years in the Mewat region of Haryana.”
He said that it is all a conspiracy against him by cow smugglers that they highlighted his name in Haryana violence.
Manesar is now at the centre of communal violence which took place during a procession led by right-wing outfits Bajrang Dal and VHP in Haryana’s Nuh that later spread to Sohna and Gurugram.
The communal clashes are believed to have been triggered by three videos released on social media – two by Manesar and another by Bittu Bajrangi, also a cow vigilante – between Sunday and Monday.
In one of the videos, Manesar can be heard saying that he will reach Nuh to participate in the procession on Monday (July 31) and urging people to visit temples in the Mewat region in large numbers.
Meanwhile, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said that Rajasthan police were free to act against Bajrang Dal’s Monu Manesar as videos suggesting that the latter will be part of an annual religious procession in Nuh were blamed for triggering the violence there even as he did not turn up.
Manesar, who (along with 21 others) was named in the first information report on the abduction and killing of two cattle traders, Junaid and his cousin Nasir, whose charred bodies were found in a burnt car in Rajasthan’s Bhiwani on February 16, has not yet been arrested.
Khalid, a family member of Juned and Nasir registered a complaint on February 16 in Gopalgarh police station against five people along with Manesar to burn alive his two family members.
After close to 100 days, the Bharatpur police named Monu Manesar in the Bhiwani murders. On February 22, the police named nine accused Rinku Saini, Anil and Srikant Pandit from Nuh, Kalu Jaat from Kaithal, Kishore from Karnal, Monu and Gogi from Bhiwani, Vikas and Sashikant Sharma from Jind. A reward of ₹10,000 each was announced by the police.
The charred bodies of the two men (Junaid, 35, and Nasir, 27), who were cousins, were found inside a vehicle in Haryana’s Bhiwani district on February 16. The families of the deceased said they were beaten and murdered by members of the Bajrang Dal.
