Gurugram: A political row has erupted in Haryana after a murder case was lodged against an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader in connection with the death of a Bajrang Dal activist during the 31 July violence in Nuh.
Javed Ahmed, the state coordinator for AAP, was booked for his alleged involvement in the killing of Pradeep Kumar, a Bajrang Dal activist who was attacked by a mob near Sohna on the intervening night of 31 July and 1 August. Pradeep had gone to Nuh to join the religious procession that saw communal clashes, and was on his way back to Gurugram by car.
Ahmed has been accused of instigating the mob to murder Pradeep and his companions, who were returning from Nuh in a car. The FIR, seen by ThePrint, was lodged at the City police station in Sohna on 2 August by on Pawan Kumar, who was driving the car in which the victim was travelling to Gurugram along with other Bajrang Dal members on 31 July.
The FIR against the AAP leader was registered under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience of order duly promulgated by public servant), 302 (murder), and 506 (criminal intimidation), along with section 25 (1B-a)/54/59 of the Arms Act, 1959.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded that the police take strict action against Ahmed, while the AAP has accused the BJP of framing its leader in a false case.
Ahmed had contested the assembly elections from the Sohna constituency twice as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate in 2014 and 2019, but came third both times with 39,868 and 21,791 votes, respectively, according to the Election Commission website. He reportedly joined the AAP on 15 March last year.
According to Pawan Kumar’s complaint, they were followed by two other cars of Bajrang Dal members and a police escort until they reached Sohna, where the police escort left them saying that Sohna Police will take care of them.
Pawan in his complaint said that soon after they left the police escort, a Scorpio car blocked their way and around 150 people armed with pistols, rods and sticks surrounded them. He claimed that he lost control of his car after some stones hit it and it crashed into the road divider.
“When I came out of the car, I noticed Ahmed standing there who told the mob aaj inhe jaan se maar do, jo hoga main sambhal lunga (Kill them, I will take care of the consequences),” Kumar claimed.
He added that he and Pradeep Kumar were dragged out of the car and beaten up by 20-25 people. He said that even when the police came to rescue them and take them to the hospital, some youths were still assaulting Pradeep, who later died of his injuries at Safdarjung Hospital Wednesday.
However, Sushil Gupta, the state president of AAP, has dismissed the FIR as a “dirty politics” of the BJP to frame leaders of opposition parties in false cases. Gupta told ThePrint that Ahmed was more than 100 km away from the spot of the incident on that night and he had proof of his mobile location.
Meanwhile, O.P. Dhankar, state president of the BJP, told ThePrint Sunday that the procession was a religious event attended by religious people and not by BJP workers.
“The rioters have attacked a religious event, and if political leaders belonging to AAP have been found involved it is highly condemnable, they should be given a stern punishment,” Dhankar added.
ThePrint reached Javed Ahmed via calls and a text message Sunday but received no response. This report will be updated when a response is received.
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Political reactions
Pradeep Kumar, who lived in Gurugram and belonged to the Bajrang Dal, had joined the Braj Mandal Yatra that was attacked in Nuh on 31 July. According to reports, he managed to survive and took refuge in an ancient Shiva temple at Nalhar in Nuh. He was later rescued by the police.
Later that night, he was reportedly on his way back to Gurugram with some others when he was attacked by a large crowd near Sohna.
According to Gupta, who dismissed the FIR as false, Ahmed was not present in Sohna on the night of the incident.
“Ahmed was at Punhana in Nuh district that night. He has given all the proof of his mobile location to the police. After the Nuh violence, he was also part of the peace committee formed by the district authorities and attended its meetings regularly,” Gupta told The Print Sunday.
The AAP’s state president added that the party does not have a problem in investigating Ahmed’s role. “But at the same time, the role of the police should also be probed. It should also be probed why intelligence on possible violence during the yatra was overlooked,” he added.
Gupta also alleged that the BJP was “in the habit of engineering riots and then implicating leaders of the opposition parties in false criminal cases”.
However, dismissing Gupta’s allegations, Dhankar said the investigation of the FIRs was being carried out by the police, and the BJP had nothing to do with it.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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