Jammu/New Delhi: The Delhi Police has arrested two people, including a prominent farmer leader, from Jammu for their alleged involvement in the violence at the Red Fort during the farmers’ tractor parade on January 26, officials said on Tuesday.
Jammu and Kashmir United Kisan Front chairman Mohinder Singh (45), a resident of Chatha area of Jammu city, and Mandeep Singh (23), a resident of Gole Gujral, Jammu, were “active participants” and “key conspirators” in the violence at the historic fort, the Delhi Police said.
The duo was taken into custody by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police on Monday night and immediately shifted to the national capital for questioning, they said.
They were apprehended with the support of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the Delhi Police said.
“As per the information received, both the accused are active participants and key conspirators in the riot at Red Fort,” Delhi Police Additional PRO Anil Mittal said.
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.
Mohinder Singh’s family, however, claimed that he was innocent and demanded his immediate release.
“He (Mohinder Singh) informed me that he was called by the Senior Superintendent of Police (Jammu) and was visiting Gandhi Nagar Police Station before his mobile got switched off. Upon enquiring, I came to know that he was arrested by police and shifted to Delhi,” the farmer leader’s wife told reporters.
She claimed that her husband was at the Delhi border and not Red Fort when the violence broke out.
“He went alone to see the SSP because he was not afraid as he had done nothing wrong,” she said.
Farmers hold protest, say arrested persons ‘falsely implicated’
Jammu: Farmers on Tuesday blocked the Jammu-Pathankot highway here for several hours in protest against the arrest of their leader and another man in connection with the Republic Day violence in Delhi, officials said.
The protesters, mostly Sikhs including the family members of the arrested men, blocked the highway near Digiana Ashram, alleging that the two are being falsely implicated in the case as they are leading the ongoing farmers’ agitation in Jammu and Kashmir.
However, they dispersed after senior civil and police officers led by an additional deputy commissioner visited them and sought some time, the officials said.
Jammu and Kashmir United Kisan Front Chairman Mohinder Singh (45), a resident of Chatha area of Jammu city, and Mandeep Singh (23), a resident of Gole Gujral, Jammu, were arrested by Delhi Police on Monday night.
The Delhi Police said they were “active participants” and “key conspirators” in the violence at the historic Red Fort during the farmers’ tractor parade on January 26.
However, the protestors said they were “singled out and implicated” in the case because they worked for the welfare of farmers in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The government is misusing its power and anyone raising his or her voice against the government policies is being silenced through illegal ways,” one of the participants, a farmer, said amid anti-government sloganeering.
He said the two arrested men are supporting the ongoing agitation against the new agri laws and had reached the national capital several hours after the violence broke out.
“They had gone to Delhi, which is the national capital of our nation, and not Pakistan. Holding protest is our democratic and constitutional right, but this government is working in a dictatorial manner and trying to silence the opponents into submission,” the protestor said and threatened to intensify the agitation if both the arrested persons are not released immediately.
