India

Two men who had claimed attack on Umar Khalid did not surrender, says Police

The two men who had earlier claimed to have attacked popular JNU student leader Umar Khalid and had said that they would surrender at the house of Sikh revolutionary Kartar Singh Sarabha on August 17, did not show up.

On Friday, teams from Delhi and Ludhiana rural police had donned civilian clothes and were patrolling the area. Police confirmed that the two men, suspected to be from Haryana, did not surrender Friday.

Ludhiana rural SSP Varinder Singh Brar said the force will be kept deployed at the village so that they can nab them if they turn up around midnight. “Some officers from Delhi police have returned and some will stay back.”

Several Left-leaning students and labour unions, including Naujawan Bharat Sabha, Tarksheel Society, Komagata Maru Yaadgar Committee, Inquilabi Kender Punjab and Lok Kala Manch Mullanpur were seen waiting outside the house. They carried flags and sticks. The unions said that the attackers would not be allowed to surrender at the martyr’s residence and misuse his name.

“Kartar Singh Sarabha was a Sikh revolutionary leader who vouched for students’ rights. These attackers are trying to distort history by associating themselves with him. The attack was at the behest of the RSS and we will not allow them to surrender here. If police wants to arrest them, it should be done outside this village. We will not let these attackers use the land of our martyr to justify their actions,” said Kulwinder Singh, general secretary, Naujawan Bharat Sabha.

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The protestors alleged that the police were trying to present these attackers as “heroes” by not arresting them before they could reach the martyr’s village. “Why are they waiting for them to reach here? Why are they not being arrested on the way itself? Are police waiting for them to come here and then welcome them like heroes,” questioned Arun Kumar from Naujawan Bharat Sabha.

“If they come here, they will not be spared in any case. So it is better if police arrest them before they enter Sarabha village,” said Jasdev Lalton from Komagata Maru Yadgaar Committee. Inspector Harjinder Singh, Station House Officer of Jodhan police station, said that the protesters foiled their plan. “Had protesters not been here, they might have turned up. Also, the attackers wanted wide publicity and limelight in national media. But due to Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death, their plan was foiled too,” he said.

Earlier, on Monday, outside the Constitution Club of India, an assailant entered the premise in order to attack the JNU student Umar Khalid, where he had come to attend an event. The police is trying to match the photo of the two persons with the attacker seen in the CCTV footage recovered from the spot.

The leader was at the Club to attend an event, “Khauff Se Azaadi”, organised by ‘United Against Hate’. “There is an atmosphere of fear in the country, and anybody who speaks against the government is threatened,” he said after the attack.

The Delhi Police has started to track the phone number which was used to send threats to Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and JNU student Shehla Rashid after popular JNU student leader, Umar Khalid was shot at. He escaped, unhurt.

According to sources in the Delhi Police Special Cell, it is being probed whether the number is registered in a foreign country. “We will contact the service provider… to ascertain which country the messages came from,” said a police officer. Police sources said once they identify the country, they can access the details of the user.

The messages were sent to Rashid and Mewani in June and in August. The sender had claimed to be Indian gangster Ravi Pujary. The sender had told Mewani that he would harm Khalid.

Last year, Gauri Lankesh, a senior Kannada journalist known for her criticism of Hindu extremism, wasshot dead at her home. Lankesh, 55, was the daughter of famous poet-turned-journalist P Lankesh. She was the editor of Gauri Lankesh Patrike, writing often against Sangh organisations and communal violence in the country.

Recently, the SIT probing the case suspects that four top-level leaders of a pro-Hindutva outfit were the ones who conceived the plot to kill her and other rationalists, the news minute reported.

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According to the report, it has been revealed that the six accused in the case were the executors of the murder plot and investigators have launched a hunt for four more persons connected to the murder.

“There is a suspicion that a retired Army Colonel, who became a member of a pro-Hindutva outfit is one of the four men who hatched the plot,” the SIT source added.

In August 2015, scholar, rationalist and teacher M.M. Kalburgi was shot dead at his home in the north Karnataka town of Dharwad for his views against the Hindutva brigade.

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