Gurugram: Mamman Khan, the Congress MLA from Ferozepur Jhirka in Haryana, has been summoned by the state police in connection with an FIR related to the alleged loot of cold drinks, cash and other items from a grocery shop during the 31 July communal violence in the state’s Nuh district, ThePrint has found.
Khan was earlier in the eye of a storm for his remarks against cow vigilante Monu Manesar during the budget session of the state assembly in February this year.
It was Manesar’s expected presence at a religious procession called the Braj Mandal Yatra organised by Hindutva groups Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Matrushakti Durga Vahini, which had alleged acted as a trigger for the outbreak of the violence which started in Nuh, but spilled on to other Haryana districts, including Gurugram.
“I will be in the yatra in person and my whole team will also be present,” Monu had purportedly said in a video message before the rally. Meanwhile, a self-styled, fringe Hindutva leader from Faridabad, Raj Kumar alias Bittu Bajrangi, had in a Facebook video on 31 July, purportedly said, “phool mala tayyar rakho (keep flowers and garlands ready)” and “tumhara jija aa raha hai (your brother-in-law is coming)”. This was taken as an indication of expected Manesar’s presence at the procession.
In a notice issued Friday under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc), Virender Singh, a sub-inspector at Nagina police station in Nuh district, directed Khan to appear before him at 10 am on 31 August in a case relating to “FIR number 149”.
ThePrint has accessed the notice as well as a copy of the remand letter that mentions the contents of FIR 149 submitted by the Nagina police in court. Eight people had been arrested in connection with the case at the time the police filed the remand letter on 12 August.
“During the investigations so far in FIR number 149 dated August 1, 2023, under Sections 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 379-A (theft), 436 (mischief by explosive substance), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC [Indian Penal Code], facts have come to the fore that you may have some information/documents relating to the case,” the notice to Khan states.
“Hence, it is necessary that you join the investigation in the said case. You are directed to appear in the Nagina police station on 31 August at 10 am,” it adds.
ThePrint has reached Khan for comment via text messages and phone calls. The report will be updated once a response is received.
Aftab Ahmed, the Congress MLA from Nuh, however, described the police action as an example of “witch-hunting”.
Khan was in news earlier this month too, after a woman had purportedly appeared at the MLA’s residence in Sector 47, Gurugram claiming to be his “second wife”.
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FIR number 149
The FIR against the alleged “ransacking, looting and torching of my shop and threats by people from the Muslim community”, was registered by Madan (identified by first name only in the FIR), a permanent resident of Nagina district who runs a grocery items-cum-cold drinks shop near a petrol pump, according to the FIR.
“On 31 July, I noticed a crowd of Muslim youth running towards my shop, saying ‘there is a shop of a Hindu. Torch it and kill the owner’. I locked the shop and ran towards my home. In the evening, I came to know that the miscreants (had) broken the locks of my shops, entered, looted all the goods, and set the shop on fire,” alleged the complainant.
The police remand letter names “Muskeen alias Gunga (28), Sakir (32), Mohammad Kaif (19), Faizaan (19), Asif (20), Aas Mohammad (51), Tafiq Mohammad (38) and Akram (22)” as the arrested accused in the case.
Madan has also claimed in the FIR that his two mobile phones and cash kept in the shop had also been taken away, estimating his loss at Rs 3 lakh.
According to the remand letter, during police investigation in the case, another complainant, Surender (identified by first name only), a resident of Aurangabad in Palwal district of Haryana, also registered a complaint that his liquor vend near Madan’s shop was looted by the same crowd.
The remand letter also stated that the accused arrested in the case had admitted to having looted liquor and cold drinks and said that they had consumed the looted stuff.
Who is Mamman Khan?
Khan, a 56-year-old Congress legislator from Ferozepur Jhirka in Nuh district, is a first-time MLA who defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Naseem Ahmad by a margin of around 37,004 votes (according to Election Commission data) in the 2019 Haryana elections.
In his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission, Khan has stated that he earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Bangalore University in 1994 and possesses assets worth Rs 5.44 crore. He has mentioned his profession as business.
According to Saddique Ahmed Meo, a historian and expert on the Meo Muslim community of Mewat, “Mamman Khan’s father Mohammad Hanif was an employee of the Haryana Waqf Board. Khan initially worked as an engineer with a builder. Later, he started supplying construction materials to builders and eventually became a builder.”
The politician came into the limelight in February, after the killings of Nasir and Junaid in Rajasthan’s Bhiwani. The two were allegedly beaten up and burnt alive by cow vigilantes and Monu Manesar was the prime suspect in the case.
Speaking in the Haryana assembly that month, Khan had said, “Yeh Monu Manesar kahin Amit Shah ke saath photo khichva raha hai, kahin Arun Jaitley ke saath photo khichva raha hai. Kya darana chahta hai ham Mewatiyon ko yeh, ke mein itna bada aadmi hoon? Abke yeh Mewat mein gaya toh isko pyaaz ki tarah phod denge (this Monu Manesar is seen photographed somewhere with (home minister) Amit Shah and at other places with (late BJP leader) Arun Jaitley [a reference to his purported social media posts]. Does he want to intimidate us Mewatis by telling us that he is so big? If he dares to visit Mewat now, he will be crushed like an onion).”
Hindutva groups and several BJP leaders have since accused Khan of instigating people through his statement.
Ramnik Singh Mann, chief media coordinator of Haryana Chief Minister and BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar, stated in a post on social media platform X [previously Twitter] on 1 August: “The @INCIndia kick starts it’s election campaign in #Haryana with #NuhStonePelting. A thorough investigation will be conducted on the role of @INCIndia & its MLA from Firozpur Jhirka “Mamman Khan” in the pre-planned violence in #Mewat. Perpetrators will be identified & punished, rooftops used for pelting stones are identified, those houses will also be demolished as per law.”
The @INCIndia kick starts it's election campaign in #Haryana with #NuhStonePelting.
A thorough investigation will be conducted on the role of @INCIndia & its MLA from Firozpur Jhirka "Maman Khan" in the pre-planned violence in #Mewat
Perpetrators will be identified & punished,… pic.twitter.com/Zr0WVHNcXU
— Ramnik Singh Mann 🇮🇳 (@ramnikmann) August 1, 2023
The case of Khan’s ‘second wife’
Days before the police summons were issued against him, the Congress MLA was in the midst of another controversy, after a woman had purportedly appeared at Khan’s residence in Sector 47, Gurugram, on 22 August, claiming to be his “second wife”.
In a complaint registered at Gurugram’s Sadar Police Station seeking action against the woman, Khan’s wife Shamshad claimed that her husband had received a call from an unknown number at 7.47 am on 22 August during which the caller had said he was sending Khan’s wife in an autorickshaw to his home and asked for the location.
ThePrint has seen the complaint.
Shamshad further claimed: “My husband told the caller that his wife was at home, but the caller disconnected the phone. My husband called up the Commissioner of Police to inform (about) the matter and sent details of the matter on WhatsApp of the officer.”
She added: “At about 8 in the evening, when my husband was away, an unknown woman came to my residence, pressed the doorbell repeatedly and when the door was opened, she forcibly tried to enter my house. I informed the matter to my husband who in turn sent the security staff of the society, who took away the woman.”
On 24 August, Khan posted a video on social media, purportedly of a police officer who appeared to be saying that the allegations by the woman, Ravina, daughter of Raj Kumar, a resident of Hisar, against Khan had been found to be false, as she was not able to produce any evidence for her claim.
मेरे खिलाफ आरोप लगाने वाली अज्ञात महिला के आरोप पुलिस की तफतीश मैं बेबुनियाद और निराधार पाए गए हैं। मेरी छवि को विरोधियों द्वारा खराब करने की लगातार कोशिश से पर्दा गुरुग्राम पुलिस ने उठा दिया है और सच्चाई जनता के सामने हैं।
शुक्रिया गुरुग्राम पुलिस@BhupinderShooda pic.twitter.com/2gBXpMM3cw
— Er. Mamman Khan MLA (@ErMammanKhan) August 24, 2023
“The allegations of an unknown woman against me have been found baseless by the police. Gurugram Police has uncovered the conspiracies to repeatedly tarnish my image. The truth is before the people now. Thank you, Gurugram Police,” Khan wrote in Hindi on X, tagging former Haryana CM and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: Nuh violence got India’s attention, but Mewat wasn’t always communal