Charred Bodies of Junaid, Nasir: Ex-UP DGP Questions Suicide FIR

New Delhi: The emerging details about the brutal murder of Junaid (32) and Nasir (25), whose charred skeletons were found inside a burnt white-coloured Bolero at Loharu village, in Haryana’s Bhiwani district, on February 16, point to the Haryana Police’s alleged complicity.   

The uncle and nephew—residents of Ghatmika village, in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district—were travelling to their relative’s house when they were allegedly waylaid, brutally assaulted and then charred to death inside the vehicle. 

Sources close to the investigation told Newsclick that the duo might have been alive when they were set ablaze. “They were tied with a belt inside the SUV and burnt by pouring petrol,” a source alleged. “The Haryana Police could have saved him.” 

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Relatives of the deceased alleged that the two men were going to Bharatput’s Sikri village when they were waylaid by Bajrang Dal’s cow vigilantes who questioned them on suspicion of cow smuggling before killing them.

“Junaid and Nasir had left home around 5 am on February 15 in a Bolero they had borrowed from one Haseen a day before. When their families rang them up, their cell phones were switched off,” Ismail (56), one of their relatives who had lodged an abduction complaint at Gopalgarh Police Station on February 15, told Newsclick.

“When there was no information about their whereabouts, we started searching for them around 9 am. We stopped at a tea stall in Piraku village where a man told us that he had spotted a group of people around 6 am mercilessly beating up two men and then taking them in very serious condition in a Bolero,” he added.

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Ismail, who led the search, claimed to have found broken pieces of a vehicle’s windshield near where the man allegedly saw them the duo being assaulted. 

Ismail said that the people on the spot told him that the assaulters were Monu Manesar, Lokesh Singla, Rinku Saini, Srikant and Anil—all from Bajrang Dal’s cow protection squad.

After getting the lead, Ismail and others accompanying him called their relatives and extended family members in the area to help in the search and immediately share any information they got.

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According to Ismail, Deenu, a former sarpanch of nearby Ghata Shamshabad village, was informed by the police at Ferozepur Jhirka (near the Haryana-Rajasthan border) that Junaid and Nasir were brought to the police station by Bajrang Dal men on February 15 early morning.

“They wanted the police to take Junaid and Nasir into custody and register a case against them but the police refused.

Instead of rushing the duo to a hospital and arresting their assaulters who had brought them there, the police asked the Bajrang Dal goons to take them to hospital,” he said. 

Ismail and others went to all the local hospitals in the area but couldn’t find Junaid and Nasir.

Subsequently, Ismail lodged an FIR at Gopalgarh Police Station detailing the sequence of events and the leads he got and naming the five attackers.

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According to the sources, the allegations in the FIR have been corroborated by Saini, a resident of Firozpur Jhirka (Haryana Nuh’s district) and a driver by profession, who was arrested by the Bharatpur Police on February 17.   

Rinku made “several revelations” during his “sustained questioning”, the sources claimed. “He and his accomplices stopped the SUV and started questioning Junaid and Nasir on suspicion of cow smuggling. Despite no cows in SUV, they beat the duo up black and blue and forced them to confess that they had cows with them,” the sources said.

The Haryana Police, the sources claimed, neither arrested Rinku and his associates for beating up Junaid and Nasir nor took the two to hospital. 

“Inebriated Rinku Saini and his accomplices took Nasir and Junaid away thinking they were dead—and if anyone came to know about their crime, they would be in trouble. They took the duo to Loharu, in Bhiwani, around 200 km away. They were tied with a belt inside the car and burnt to death by pouring petrol,” the sources alleged. 

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The vehicle was identified by its chassis number, which generally does not get destroyed by fire. 

Rajasthan’s director general of police (DGP) Umesh Mishra told the media the two men were apparently intercepted by the accused at the Haryana-Rajasthan border and taken to Haryana. 

“We are trying to ascertain the exact spot where the two were stopped by the accused. The charred remains of the body have been sent for forensic examination. Further investigation is going on. A lookout circular has been issued and teams have been constituted to apprehend rest of the accused,” he said.

No personnel at Firozpur Jhirka Police Station commented on the allegation that the victims were brought there by the Bajrang Dal men.

Nuh superintendent of police Varun Singla was quoted by the media as saying that the Rajasthan Police is trying to solve the case and that “strict action will be taken” if any police official from Nuh is found guilty in the investigation. 

Shockingly, the Haryana Police registered an FIR of suicide and initiated proceedings under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (police enquiry and report on suicide, etc.) even after registration of a case against the accused under abduction and murder charges by the Rajasthan Police.

Former Uttar Pradesh DGP Bikram Singh said there were “glaring lapses” in the action taken by the police from both the states.

“The Rajasthan Police did not register an FIR for 48 hours after the first complaint of abduction was filed against the accused and no lookout notice was issued,” Singh told Newsclick.

“There must be around 1,200 police patrols and posts in the 150-km area. What were they doing? Why were they not activated? How can burnt bodies in a completely charred vehicle be an act of suicide? Prima facie, it could have been culpable homicide amounting to murder. The Haryana Police indulged in minimisation of crime by registering a case under Section 174 of CrPC,” he added.

Questioning the delay in arresting Mohit Yadav, alias Monu Manesar (28), and others, Singh said that he is “unable to understand” why the police have not zeroed in on the accused so far when he is releasing his videos on social media and giving interviews to news channels.

“I don’t understand the lenient approach. Apparently, being generous to those who are allegedly involved in a heinous crime of this magnitude gives a bad perception about the police’s impartiality. Flaunting firearms, issuing threats and giving media bytes show the man enjoys sheer impunity and has no fear of law,” he said.

Talking about a purported CCTV footage Manesar has released claiming that he was staying in a hotel at the time of the incident, Singh said, “Making such a fool-proof arrangement to safeguard his presence gives rise to further doubts. Therefore, it must be investigated.”

Refuting the allegations against him and his men, Manesar told ANI, “My team and I have nothing to do with this incident. The 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.”

When the incident took place, Manesar claimed that he was at a Gurugram hotel. “We have the footage. 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 the culprits,” he added.

WHO IS MONU MANESAR?

Manesar, who has a diploma in engineering, was recently named in a police complaint regarding the murder of one Waris Khan (22) in Nuh. However, the police refused to convert the complaint into an FIR arguing that Khan succumbed to injuries sustained in an accident on February 18.

Khan’s family alleged in the complaint that he was beaten up by cow vigilantes led by Manesar chasing his vehicle on the suspicion of smuggling cattle. Video footage later surfaced showing that the armed men were quizzing and assaulting an injured Khan.

Manesar denied the allegations claiming that Khan died in an “accident”. “We received information about the accused smuggling a cow and reached the spot. We recorded a video of the accused and then handed them over to the police,” he had said.

Manesar joined the Bajrang Dal as a district co-coordinator from Manesar in 2011 and earns a living by sub-letting rooms to labourers in his area. He heads the district’s cow protection force.

He also runs a YouTube page ‘Monu Manesar Bajrang Dal’, which has more than 2 lakh subscribers and has received a silver play button. 

Manesar and his team of cow vigilantes often post videos of high-speed chases of suspected cattle smugglers on YouTube and other social media platforms. They also post images of detained suspects and “rescued” cattle.

The man often delivers hate speeches. On July 4, 2021, he had made an open call for violence at the Hindu Mahapanchayat in Haryana’s Pataudi.

Talking about his modus operandi, Manesar had told Alt News, “Our work includes taking tip from people who usually work in night shifts, like security guards and local dairy workers. Upon spotting a suspicious vehicle, sources immediately alert my team. We, in turn, inform the police who reach the spot. On occasions when the police are unable to reach the location, my team and I do the needful and hand the apprehended persons over to the police.”