A second “Hindu mahapanchayat” in two days was organised in Haryana in support of 28-year-old Mohit Yadav, also known as Monu Manesar, on Wednesday with supporters asking for his name to be dropped from an FIR that names him as an accused in the murder of two Muslim men whose charred bodies were found in a car in Bhiwani on February 16. This comes on a day Rajasthan Police released the names of eight accused in the murder, apart from Rinku Saini, the one man that has been arrested, but did not name Manesar as one of the eight men.
On Tuesday, at a mahapanchayat in Manesar, the village where Monu is from, the speakers had insisted that he is innocent and threatened violence if he was picked up by Rajasthan Police. This mirrored a video issued by Monu in the immediate aftermath of the crime, where he reiterated that he was “not involved in the murder”.
At the mahapanchayat in Hathin on Wednesday, organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the members demanded the removal of Monu’s name from the original FIR filed by Rajasthan Police, and asked for an apology from the police and the government for “defaming the Bajrang Dal”. The complaint from family members of the two victims – Nasir and Junaid – on February 15, on which the Rajasthan Police had filed an FIR under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 365 (kidnapping), 367 (grievously hurt after kidnapping), 368 (wrongfully keeping in confinement), 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of Indian Penal Code had alleged the involvement of the Bajrang Dal.
Dharmender Yadav, a Bajrang Dal member, asked for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and said some politicians tried to give the case a communal colour. “The Congress government in Rajasthan has tried to implicate cow vigilantes in a false case to gain political mileage for the upcoming elections. They defamed Monu Manesar when he was not involved,” he said.
Senior officials of Rajasthan Police, however, said that despite Monu’s name not being mentioned in the list that was released on Wednesday, they had not given him a clean chit thus far.
Members of the mahapanchayat said that cow vigilantes should not be harassed before the completion of the investigation, and threatened protests across the country.
Kulbhushan Bhardwaj, a member of the Bajrang Dal, said: “Anyone found trying to implicate them in any false case will not be spared.”
Monu’s family said he was likely to meet his supporters on Thursday. “We are thankful for all the support,” one of them said, seeking anonymity.
