Bhiwani deaths: Gehlot promises strict action; accused Bajrang Dal leader denies involvement

Six people have been detained for questioning in connection with the death of two Muslim men whose bodies were found in a car in Haryana after they were allegedly abducted by cow vigilantes.

Nasir (25) and Junaid alias Juna (35), both residents of Ghatmeeka village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, were allegedly abducted on Wednesday and their bodies were found inside a burnt car in Loharu in Bhiwani on Thursday morning.

The police said they are probing if the deaths were a case of cow vigilantism, even as Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot condemned the incident and promised strict action.

"The murder of two people, residents of Bharatpur's Ghatmika, in Haryana is condemnable. Rajasthan and Haryana Police are acting in coordination. Rajasthan Police has been directed to take strict action," Gehlot said in a tweet in Hindi.

Superintendent of Police, Bharatpur, Shyam Singh said an FIR has been registered at Gopalgarh police station against five people —Anil, Srikant, Rink Saini, Lokesh Singhla and Monu—on the basis of a complaint lodged by the victims' family members and teams have been formed to nab the accused.

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)

One of the key accused in the case, Mohit Yadav alias Monu Manesar, is the Gurugram district president of Bajrang Dal and a member of a self-proclaimed cow protection team. He was earlier named in an attempt to murder case registered at Pataudi police station in Gurugram on February 7.

Monu, a popular social media influencer with a considerable following on Facebook and Twitter, and whose content usually revolves around cow vigilantism, had denied any role in the murders after All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Asaduddin Owaisi had claimed that Monu is "patronised" by the BJP government in Haryana.

Reacting to the allegations, Monu said neither he nor his team have anything to do with the incident. "Police must probe to find the real culprits. Our organisation should not be defamed by dragging it into this. Whatever claims being spread on social media are absolutely wrong," news agency ANI quoted him as saying.

He said he was in a hotel in Gurugram when the crime took place and claimed that he has CCTV footage to substantiate this. "I didn’t know the two victims and I don’t know what happened to them. We are also looking into this incident from our side to find out about culprits," he said.