NEW DELHI: Cow vigilante Mohit Yadav, also popularly known as Monu Manesar, who was booked by Rajasthan Police in February for the murder of two Muslim men and is also accused of inciting communal hatred in his home state Haryana, was apprehended ending an eight-month-long hunt.

He was arrested by the members of the special investigating team (SIT) that had been formed to probe the Nuh communal violence triggered on July 31 in which a Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) procession was targeted by mobs in Nuh that led to the deaths of six people in Nuh and neighbouring Gurugram.

When Manesar who is a self-proclaimed Bajrang Dal functionary was apprehended by the police team, a pistol along with three live bullets and a mobile phone were found on him which were seized by the police, who are checking if the pistol is licensed. 

The first information report (FIR) registered by the Nuh police is related to a message Manesar posted on social media amid plans by the VHP to take out another procession on August 28 to 'resume' the disrupted yatra.

After his arrest, he was produced in the court by the Nuh police while at the same time, the Rajasthan Police also moved an application to seek his custody and it was granted after which he was taken from Nuh to Deeg on a production warrant from and has arrested him under sections 302, 368, 201, 147,148, 149, 435, 364, 365 387, 388 and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code in connection with Bhiwani double murder case.

The Rajasthan Police had filed an FIR in connection with the murder of two Muslim men, Junaid (35) and Nasir (25) who were allegedly abducted, assaulted, killed and their bodies burned by alleged cow protection gangs on February 16. Their charred bodies were found in a car in Haryana’s Bhiwani district

According to the Rajasthan police, there were a total of four accused in the case including Monu Rana, Rinku Saini, Gogi and Monu Manesar while 26 others are suspected to be involved. According to the superintendent of police (SP) of Deeg, Brijesh Jyoti Upadhyay, Manesar was part of the conspiracy but was not directly involved in murdering the two men, although he was in constant touch with the other three before, during and after the abduction and the murders.