The charge sheet filed in the death of two home guards during the Nuh violence indicates that the riots that broke out during the VHP yatra in July was “motivated” by the killing of two Muslim men earlier in the year allegedly at the hands of cow vigilantes, police have said.
According to police, the three men named in the charge sheet said that the July 31 Nuh violence was motivated by the killings of Nasir and Junaid in February and also the rumour that cow vigilante Monu Manesar would be attending the yatra.
Sohil Khan, 21, a resident of Dhekli village, and Osama, 30, and Shaukeen, 25 , both residents of Firozpur Namak of Nuh district, were named in the charge sheet filed on November 24, police said.
According to the three men’s confession, police said the Nuh violence was the result of “hatred” towards the Bajrang Dal and Hindu religion.
On July 31, a VHP yatra passing the Anaj Mandi area in Nuh was pelted with stones by a mob and when home guards Neeraj and Gursevak reached there they too came under the attack, Inspector Ajay Kumar related in the more than 160 page-charge sheet.
The mob pelted stones and opened fire at the yatra participants and also shattered the windows of the police vehicle, which they later overturned and set on fire.
The crowd dispersed only after the police fired warning shots in the air.
Wounded in the attack, Neeraj and Gursevak were rushed to a hospital where they were declared dead, police said.
Sohil Khan was arrested on August 26 with two mobile phones in his possession and was found to be in Nuh on July 31 when his call detail records were checked, police said.
A Thar vehicle recovered from his possession was found to have had been used to carry sticks, a liquid substance, and stones, they said.
According to his confession, Sohail claimed that after Nasir and Junaid’s murder, people of his community had become antagonised, said police.
“Sohil had posted an audio asking members of a WhatsApp group to be ‘prepared’ for the yatra and his friend Junaid too released a video message in which they warned Monu Manesar not to make the mistake of participating in the yatra.
“Later they gathered near the cyber police station where they not only broke the gate of the police station with a bus, but also thrashed policemen and even snatched their mobile and cash,” police said.
Shaukeen in his disclosure statement said that Nasir and Junaid’s murder allegedly by cow vigilantes in February was the cause of strife between locals and Bajrang Dal (VHP’s youth wing) which had organised the yatra.
Osama corroborated the other two’s statements in his testimony, police said in the charge sheet, which carries names of 15 more people who are still at large.
The charred bodies of Nasir and Junaid were found in a vehicle on the Rajasthan-Haryana border on February 16 after they were allegedly abducted by some vigilantes who accused them of cow smuggling.Â
