Monu Manesar to be questioned in connection with murder of two Muslim men

Police in Rajasthan will question suspected cow vigilante Monu Manesar in connection with the murder of two Muslim men from the state whose charred bodies were recovered in Haryana's Bhiwani district in February, officials said on Wednesday.

Monu Manesar -- booked by Rajasthan Police for the murder of Nasir and Junaid and accused by some of inciting the recent violence in Nuh -- was nabbed on Tuesday.

While the Haryana Police did not confirm that the Bajrang Dal leader had been detained, an office-bearer of the outfit's parent organisation -- the Vishva Hindu Parishad -- said he was picked up in Gurugram's Manesar.

He was handed over to the Rajasthan Police after it obtained a transit remand from a court in Nuh. Monu Manesar -- whose official name is Mohit Yadav -- was then brought to Bharatpur and produced in a local court, which sent him to two-day police remand.

Superintendent of Police (Deeg) Brijesh Jyoti Upadhyay on Wednesday said the court sent Monu Manesar to two days in police remand. The police are interrogating him in connection with the murder of Junaid and Nasir.

In February, Monu Manesar was named in a FIR lodged by the Rajasthan Police after two men, Nasir (25) and Junaid (35), were found dead in a burnt car in Loharu in Haryana's Bhiwani.

The men from Ghatmika village in Rajasthan's Deeg (formerly Bharatpur) district were allegedly abducted by suspected cow vigilantes who then crossed the border into Haryana.

The Rajasthan Police said last month that Monu Manesar's role in hatching a conspiracy and abetting the crime was "under active investigation".

Monu Manesar was also accused by some of being a trigger for the July violence in which a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession was targeted by mobs in Nuh -- leading to the deaths of six people in that district and neighbouring Gurugram.