Hindu Raksha Dal chief held for raising communal slogans at Jantar Mantar on August 8

New Delhi, August 31

Hindu Raksha Dal chief Bhupinder Tomar alias Pinki Chaudhary, accused of raising communal slogans at a rally in Jantar Mantar here on August 8, was arrested on Tuesday, police said.

In a video that surfaced online on Monday, Chaudhary is seen denying all allegations against him. He had claimed in the video that he would surrender before the police on Tuesday and cooperate in the investigation.

A senior police officer said Chaudhary was present outside the Mandir Marg police station from where he was arrested around 2.30 pm on Tuesday.

The officer said he doesn’t know if Chaudhary was planning to go to Connaught Place police station.

The Delhi Police had registered a case after a video showing anti-Muslim slogans being raised during a protest at Jantar Mantar here on August 8 was widely circulated on social media.

The Delhi Police has already arrested eight people—Uttam Upadhyay, Ashwini Upadhyay, Preet Singh, Deepak Singh, Deepak Kumar, Vinod Sharma, Vinit Bajpai and Sushil Tiwari—in connection with the case.

Raids were being conducted in the national capital and neighbouring states to arrest Chaudhary.

In the video that surfaced on Monday, he said, “Neither I nor anyone else in my organisation did anything wrong at Jantar Mantar. I respect the court and will surrender on August 31 around 12 pm at the Connaught Place police station.”     

“It is the right of every person to go to court and I did the same. All the allegations against me are false and baseless. I have devoted my life towards Hinduism and Hindutva. As long as I am alive, I will continue to work for my religion,” Chaudhary said.

The Delhi High Court on Friday had refused to grant interim protection from arrest to Chaudhary.

Earlier this month, a sessions court here had also dismissed Chaudhary’s anticipatory bail application. — PTI