CHANDIGARH: Cow vigilante Monu Manesar, who was booked by the Rajasthan Police for the murder of two Muslim men in February, and who is also a suspect in inciting communal hatred in his home state Haryana, was arrested Tuesday, officials said.
Manesar (28) was handed over to the Rajasthan Police after it obtained a transit remand for him from a court in Haryana’s Nuh. The arrest was made by the Nuh police, reportedly in Gurugram’s Manesar.
Monu Manesar alias Mohit Yadav is also a Bajrang Dal member. He was arrested by the Haryana Police probing Nuh violence.
Manesar was booked under the Arms Act and for instigating communal violence. He has been sent to 14-day judicial custody as he was one of the accused in the murder of two cousins, Nasir (27) and Junaid (35).
Sources said Haryana Police took Manesar in their custody from his village. A team of Rajasthan Police sought his transit remand since the victims were from Bharatpur.
As a member of a cow vigilante group, Manesar allegedly abducted the cousins from Rajasthan suspecting their role in cow slaughter and burning them in a vehicle at Loharu of Bhiwani in Haryana on February 16.
Sources further said that Manesar was wanted by the Haryana Police ever since August 28 when he had posted a social media message trying to incite communal sentiments before the second Nuh Jalabhishek yatra on August 31.
Earlier too, he courted controversy for his alleged video clip in the run-up to the yatra in Nuh, which led to communal violence. Six people died in the clashes. Manesar had been on the run for six months from the Rajasthan Police after he was named one of the accused in the double murder.
Nuh ASP Usha Kundu said, “As we looked for Manesar, we noticed a Facebook post going viral. This was posted from an account in the name of Mohit Manesar. That’s how we traced him.” The police personnel
were posted in plain clothes to keep a watch on him. The police arrested him when he stepped out for shopping today at noon, said Kundu.