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Cow vigilante Bittu Bajrangi was remanded in police custody on Wednesday in connection with the recent Nuh communal clashes. The development came even as the Vishva Hindu Parishad and its youth wing - Bajrang Dal - distanced themselves from him. According to the police, Bajrangi is the president of an outfit called the Goraksha Bajrang Force.
The 45-year-old, also known as Raj Kumar, , is a fruit and vegetables trader at the Gazipur market and Dabua maket in Faridabad. He is believed to have has been running his cow vigilante group for the last three years. Earlier reports quoting sources had also flagged Bajrangi as a Bajrang Dal member.
Violence had erupted in Haryana's Nuh at the end of July, killing six people and injuring several others. A senior police officer told PTI that Bajrangi and his associates had wielded illegal weapons during the VHP procession that came under attack in Muslim-majority Nuh on July 31.
While Bittu Bajrangi had been arrested by Faridabad police two days after the violence (over related another case) he was released on bail after he joined the investigation. He was accused of making inflammatory speeches and brandishing weapons in public. In the last one month alone, he has been booked in three cases of inciting religious sentiments.
“I was on duty with my team 300 metres away from the Nalhar temple. We saw a mob of around 20 people carrying swords and trishuls marching to Nalhar temple. To maintain law and order my team snatched and seized their weapons. After this, they started raising slogans against the police and manhandled the team,” said a complaint filed by Assistant Superintendent of Police Usha Kundu.
The ASP said that the group had squatted in front of the police vehicles where their weapons were kept. Soon after this, they had opened the rear gates of the vehicle and fled with weapons.
"Bittu and others who had misbehaved with us and threatened to kill us were identified in the footage,” ASP Kundu said in her complaint.
Bajrangi was he was questioned and later arrested from Faridabad following a fresh FIR based on Kundu's complaint. The FIR cited several sections of the Indian Penal Code including 148 (riots), 149 (unlawful assembly), 332 (causing hurt), 353, 186 (obstructing a public servant from discharging duty), 395, 397 (armed robbery), and 506 (criminal intimidation) as well as provisions of the Arms Act.
Meanwhile the VHP sought to address claims about the cow vigilante's association with the Bajrang Dal, insisting that the VHP as a whole had no relation with the accused.
"Raj Kumar alias Bittu Bajrangi, who is said to be a Bajrang Dal worker, has never had any relation with Bajrang Dal. The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) also does not consider the content of the video allegedly released by him to be appropriate," the right-wing outfit said in a statement.
(With inputs from agencies)
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