R-Day violence: Man who climbed Red Fort tomb arrested

New Delhi, February 22

A 29-year-old man who allegedly climbed one of the tombs of the Red Fort during the violence in Delhi on Republic day has been arrested, police said on Monday.

Jaspreet Singh is one of the associates of Maninder Singh, who was arrested last Tuesday for allegedly swinging swords with the intent of “motivating” and “energising” the protesters at the historic monument.

Jaspreet, a resident of Swaroop Nagar in northwest Delhi, was arrested by a Crime Branch team on Saturday.

Thousands of protesters had clashed with the police during the tractor parade called by farmer unions on January 26 demanding repeal of the Centre’s contentious farm laws. Many of the protesters reached the Red Fort driving tractors and entered the monument, and some of them even hoisted religious flags on its domes and a flagstaff at the ramparts.

“Jaspreet Singh is the person who was standing behind accused Maninder Singh and also climbed up one of the tombs located on both the sides of rampart at Red Fort,” an officer said. “In one of the pictures, he is also seen in offensive gesture holding steel tensile installed at Red Fort.”

According to police, Maninder, 30, had “motivated” six people of the neighbourhood who had accompanied the tractor parade that headed from the Singhu border towards Mukarba Chowk.

Jaspreet is one of the associates and was identified from the pictures and videos in which he was purportedly standing behind Maninder, police said.

Maninder, who works as a car AC mechanic, was arrested from in Pitampura in northwest Delhi last week, police had said.

According to the police, Maninder was seen in a video swinging two swords at the Red Fort “with the intent of motivating or radicalising and energising violent anti-national elements indulging in brutal assault and attacking police persons on duty”.

Maninder was “radicalised” by seeing “provoking” Facebook posts of various groups, police had said, adding he would frequently visit the Singhu border and was “highly motivated” by speeches made by leaders there.  PTI

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