Nuh Police on Tuesday arrested Gau Rakshak Raj Kumar alias Bittu Bajrangi for allegedly instigating the attack which took place in Haryana’s Nuh on Hindus during an annual Jal Abhishek Yatra to historic Shiva mandirs in the Muslim-dominated district, reports IANS.

As per the police, Raj Kumar was arrested from his house in Parvartiya colony in Faridabad.

Police has registered a case against him based on a complaint filed by ASP Usha Kundu at Nuh Sadar police station. The case against Raj Kumar was registered under IPC section 148 (rioting, being armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly ), 186 (voluntarily obstructing any public servant in the discharge of duty), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault, criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty) , 395 (dacoity), 397 (dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Arms Act.

According to FIR filed by ASP Usha Kundu, Raj Kumar (who was identified through social media posts) and some of his ‘unidentified supporters’ were carrying swords and trishuls to Nalhar temple when Kundu and her team stopped them. They allegedly resisted police efforts to seize their weapons.

It is pertinent to note that around 2500 Hindu devotees, including women and children, were trapped in the Nalhar temple for 4-5 hours, and were subjected to constant gunfire from heavily armed Islamists positioned in the hillside. Dozens of vehicles belonging to the Hindu yatris were set on fire, and police was absent or unable to defend the devotees trapped in the temple. It was only later when a police team led by ADGP Mamta Singh arrived that the devotees could be rescued with great difficulty, just as it was getting dark. During this period, it was a few Hindus with licensed arms and other unarmed youth who managed to fend off the attackers at great personal risk. One Bajrang Dal member Abhishek Chauhan was brutally killed during this attack as he was trying to get women to safety inside the temple. The ferocity of the attack which led to two policemen being killed and sent police scurrying for their lives, can be judged from two FIRS lodged by police themselves.

Earlier, Faridabad Police had lodged a separate FIR against Rak Kumar on August 1 at the Dabua police station in Faridabad for ‘instigating communal tensions’ by releasing allegedly ‘provocative videos’ before proceeding with the yatra. Raj Kumar had told media that he had only answered those who had threatened him, via the said video. And what was said by him in this video? As per IANS, he is heard saying, “Yeh bolenge ki bataya nahi hai hum sasural aaye aur meeting nahi huve…(they will say we didn’t inform you about our comingkeep the flower garlands ready, brother-in-law is coming). There are 150 vehicles in total.” 

As per a Times of India report, Raj Kumar was arrested by Nuh police over the FIR lodged by ASP Usha Kundu. CCTV footage posted by news agencies showed a Nuhpolice team in plain clothes armed with guns and lathis rushing towards a house as locals looked on. Seconds later, they are seen walking away with a man, believed to be Raj Kumar, in their custody.

Raj Kumar had earlier been arrested on August 2 by Faridabad Police and released on bail the day after.

As we know, on July 31, mass violence was unleashed by Islamists in Nuh in which 3 Hindus and 2 home guards were killed. In alleged retaliatory violence that followed, 1 Muslim man was killed in Gurugram. Around 88 people have been grievously injured in total.

As per the Police, Raj Kumar is currently being questioned at an unknown location, as police fears ‘mass attack’ on him. He is expected to be produced in court today.

Is Haryana Police trying to monkey-balance?

The arrest of Bittu Bajrangi has indeed ignited a storm of concerns regarding the priorities of Police.

What adds more fuel to the fire is the glaring evidence from the initial investigation into the Nuh Violence. We have seen numerous Audios and videos have emerged, unmistakably revealing calls for violence from certain Islamist leaders. Congress MLA Mamman Khan’s chilling threat in February in the Haryana Assembly that Monu Manesar will be crushed like an onion if he enters Mewat, was repeated by several of his supporters in the lead-up to the attack on 31 July. The Police crackdown on Mewati cyber criminals in April, during which 14 villages were raided and 125 criminals arrested, had also upset the Islamist mafias that operate in the region. Open threats to assault police had been doing the rounds, and during the violence of 31 July, Nuh’s cyber police station was especially targeted. Even local Hindus like Shakti Saini, who were not participants in the yatra, were brutally murdered and Hindu doctors and patients attacked in a local hospital, further proving that this was a pre-planned religious pogrom, and not a result of ‘instigation’ by gau rakshaks.

But despite this overwhelming evidence that the Nuh violence was unleashed in a pre-mediated manner by Islamist criminal elements of Nuh and surrounding areas, media reports are full of two names in relation to the violence – Monu Manesar and Bittu Bajrangi. So these questions must be asked:

• Is the Haryana Police under pressure from the media-political establishment to appear secular by arresting Hindus as well? Even during the mahapanchayats held by several villages in the aftermath of the clashes, some speakers had alluded to Hindu youth being arrested or FIRs lodged merely for protesting the brutal anti-Hindu violence in Nuh.

• When the large police contingent (anywhere from 500 to 800) failed in protecting the Hindu devotees and even themselves – 2 cops killed, 60 injured, and some even had to ditch their uniforms to save their lives, as per a Hindustan Times report, why are those people carrying some arms for religious purposes or self-defence being targeted, especially when there is no report of even 1 Islamist rioter being injured in Nuh? Could Abhishek Chauhan’s life have been saved if more devotees had arms to ward off the attackers?

• When will police arrest AAP leader Javed Khan, whose name has appeared a key accused in the murder of Bajrang Dal worker Pawan Kumar, and Congress MLA Mamman Khan whose ‘pyaaz footegi’ threat delivered on behalf of Mewat’s cattle smuggling mafia actually instigated this anti-Hindu violence?

Incidentally, VHP has issued a tweet saying that Raj Kumar aka Bittu Bajrangi is not connected to Bajrang Dal, as is being claimed by media outlets like Times of India. But is Raj Kumar being made a convenient scapegoat, and will Monu Manesar be next, is the question that every Hindu needs to ask today.

There is also an urgent need to transfer this whole investigation to NIA as various criminal mafias in Mewat, with inter-state linkages and political backing, are involved in this unprecedented attack.

Update

4 PM, 16 Aug

As per Times of India, Raj Kumar was arrested by a Nuh Police team in plain clothes for alleged ‘rioting and carrying arms’ on July 31, over the FIR filed by ASP Usha Kundu. The article has been updated accordingly.