New Delhi:
A Congress MLA from Haryana has been arrested for the July 31 communal violence in Haryana’s Nuh. Mamman Khan, the MLA from Ferozepur Jhirka, has been named as an accused in one of the First Information Reports registered in the state. He was questioned by the Nuh Police last week. He will be produced in court on Friday.
Of the 52 accused in the FIR, 42 have been arrested and one is on bail.
Police sources said Mamman Khan has been named as an accused in the case and there is “ample evidence” against him.
The Haryana government has told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the police have the phone call records and other evidence, reported news agency Press Trust of India.
The state’s Additional Advocate General Deepak Sabharwal told the court that Mamman Khan was named an accused on September 4.
The MLA had appealed to the court on Tuesday, seeking protection from arrest and claiming he was being framed in the case. He said he was not in Nuh the day the violence broke out.
The MLA’s counsel said he has come to know only now that he has been named in the FIR.
Justice Vikas Bahl will hear the case on October 19.
Violence broke out in Nuh during a procession by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on July 31. Six people were killed. A cleric died in an attack on a mosque in adjoining Gurugram.
The Haryana MLA pleaded that all cases related to the violence in Nuh should be transferred to a special investigation team. The team has been formed already, the government told the court.
Earlier, the MLA was asked twice by Nuh Police to join the investigation but he failed to appear before it. He did not come for questioning on August 31, saying he had viral fever.
In his petition, Mr Khan said he was at his Gurugram home from July 26 to August 1, and not in Nuh.
But the government’s counsel said the evidence was against Mr Khan, reported PTI. Mr Sabharwal said there were call detail records, his location tracked through a phone tower, a statement by the MLA’s personal security officer and other evidence that indicated that the claim was false.
The state counsel told the court that a co-accused, Taufiq, who was arrested on September 9 has also named Khan.
The counsel said calls were exchanged between them on July 29 and 30, a day ahead of the violence.
