A Rajasthan court on Saturday sent one accused to police remand for five days in connection with the alleged abduction and murder of two men by cow vigilantes, while Haryana authorities moved to cancel the arms licence of Bajrang Dal member Monu Manesar, who was among the four evading an arrest in the case.
The family members of Nasir (25) and Junaid alias Juna (35), residents of Ghatmeeka village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, whose charred bodies were found inside a burnt car in Loharu in Bhiwani in Haryana on Thursday morning, met Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who assured them that all the accused would be arrested at the earliest.
The Rajasthan Police had booked five persons linked to Bajrang Dal in the case and arrested one of them, Rinku Saini.
Separately, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that the Rajasthan and Haryana Police were cooperating and the guilty would not be spared.
Meanwhile, the Haryana Police said they were investigating a complaint filed in Nuh by the mother of one of the accused, Shrikant Pandit, alleging that the Rajasthan Police had forcibly taken away her two other sons after assaulting her family members, including her full-term pregnant daughter-in-law who lost her child after the incident.
Varun Singla, Superintendent of Police of Nuh, said that a probe had been initiated on the complaint from Dulari Devi and they were verifying the facts.
Delay in acting
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, who was in Rajasthan on a two-day visit and met the grieving families in Bharatpur, alleged that "delay" by the Rajasthan government in acting on the missing complaint lodged by the family members of the two men allowed the accused to flee the State. He also accused the BJP of protecting such vigilante groups.
Members of Hindu outfits including the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal held a protest in Gurugram and other districts in Haryana, demanding a CBI inquiry into the case.
"The arrested-accused Rinku Saini was produced before the court today from where he was sent to five days police remand. The accused will be further interrogated," Station House Officer of Gopalgarh Ramnaresh Meena said.
Saini, 32, a resident of Firozpur Jhirka in Haryana's Nuh district, was arrested on the basis of interrogation and technical analysis on Friday night. He works as a taxi diver and was involved with a cow vigilante group, the Rajasthan Police said.
One of the key accused in the case is Mohit Yadav alias Monu Manesar, the Gurugram district president of Bajrang Dal who was a member of the district cow protection task force.
He was earlier named in an attempt to murder case registered at the Pataudi police station in Gurugram on February 7, and the police said they were trying to nab him.
Officials said they had started the process of cancellation of his arms licence.
DCP Manesar Manbir Singh said that under the rules, an arms licence was cancelled if the licence holder was booked for a heinous crime.
"The process of cancellation of the arms license of Monu Manesar has started and it will be cancelled soon," he said.
Monu, who frequently courts controversy over the actions of his cow protection group, had posted a video on social media denying his involvement in the case.
He is known for sharing videos of vigilantes chasing, confronting and nabbing alleged cow smugglers. The videos, mostly live streams, have thousands of views and comments.
Junaid had a criminal record of cattle smuggling and five cases were registered against him at different police stations, a police officer said.
"Family members had demanded justice and early arrest of all the accused. Chief Minister has assured that the accused will be arrested and cooperation from Haryana will be sought if it is required," Rajasthan Minister of State for Education Zahida Khan, who led the delegation which met Mr. Gehlot, told reporters.
Mr. Owaisi said that it was not a matter of Muslims, but of all those people who believed in the rule of law and the Constitution.
"Nobody has the right to take law in their hands. Otherwise where will be the need for police, administration and courts," he said.
"Had the Rajasthan government taken immediate action on the missing complaint related to Junaid and Nasir, then they (abductors) would have not been able to cross the Rajasthan border," Mr. Owaisi told reporters. He said it was a painful incident.
"If the BJP keeps sheltering such radicals then it is not right for the country. These incidents occur only and only because the BJP helps such organisations, gives them strength and shelters them due to which the police and the administration do not take immediate action," Mr. Owaisi alleged.
Demanding an apology
But protesting members of right-wing Hindu outfits on Saturday demanded an apology from the Gehlot government, accusing it of "defaming" Bajrang Dal and its members and alleged that the Rajasthan Police was wrongly implicating members of cow protection groups in the case.
“There should be an impartial inquiry into this entire matter first because we feel that the Gehlot government, by adopting a policy of appeasement under a conspiracy, wants to gain political mileage in the upcoming elections by implicating the cow vigilantes in false cases," said Ajit Yadav, Gurugram district president of the VHP.
In Nuh, complainant Dulari Devi alleged that a team of over 40 personnel of the Rajasthan Police forcibly entered her house and asked about the whereabouts of her son Shrikant.
“When I told them that my son was not at home, they thrashed me and my son's pregnant wife Kamlesh. They uttered abuses and took away my two sons Vishnu and Rahul with them and we still don't know about their whereabouts," she claimed.
Ms. Devi claimed that her daughter-in-law had completed nine months of pregnancy.
"The cops also kicked the pregnant wife of Shrikant on her stomach and she started having stomach pain. She was admitted to Mandi Khera hospital and soon after referred to Nalhar Medical College where her child was born dead," she claimed and added her daughter-in-law was still hospitalised in critical condition.
"Both my sons Vishnu and Rahul should be recovered and strict action should be taken against the culprits,” Ms. Devi said in her complaint.
A senior police officer said on condition of anonymity, that the family had buried the body of the child without a postmortem. In this situation, it was a matter of investigation first.
“As per the complaint, we are verifying the facts. Further action will be taken as per the law,” said SP Singla.
Superintendent of Police of Bharatpur Shyam Singh had said the FIR was registered at the Gopalgarh police station against five people— Anil, Shrikant, Rinku Saini, Lokesh Singhla and Monu— on the basis of a complaint lodged by the victims' family members.
The accused have been booked under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 365 (kidnapping), 367 (grievously hurt after kidnapping) and 368 (wrongfully keeping in confinement) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), he said.
On the victims' families alleging the Bajrang Dal's role in the killings, the Rajasthan BJP said it was not justified to malign an organisation before the investigation was completed.
“These incidents occur only and only because the BJP helps such organisations, gives them strength and shelters them due to which the police and the administration do not take immediate action”Asaduddin OwaisiAIMIM president
