Cow vigilante and Bajrang Dal functionary Mohit Yadav, also known as Monu Manesar, who is currently in judicial custody in connection with the abduction and killing two Muslim men in Bhiwani, wanted to join the crew of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and exchanged messages with a senior member of the gang, Rajasthan police officials aware of the development said on Saturday.
A Rajasthan Police officer said, “Yadav was in touch with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother Anmol Bishnoi on WhatsApp, and regularly exchanged messages with him. His chats with Anmol Bishnoi disclosed his regular connection, and he wanted to join the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.”
The officer, declining to be named, added, “Since both were cow vigilantes, they wanted to work together.”
HT reached out to Nuh superintendent of police Narendra Bijarniya, but he did not respond to requests for comment on the development.
However, a senior Haryana Police officer, declining to be named, said that they have come across a few WhatsApp chats between Yadav and Anmol Bishnoi, and have established that both were in touch. “Since Rajasthan Police is probing the case, they have all the content of the chat,” he said.
Two Muslim men – Junaid, 35, and Nasir, 25 – 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. Yadav was booked by the Rajasthan Police in connection with the murders.
Yadav is also accused of inciting the July 31 communal clashes in Nuh, in which mobs attacked a Hindu religious procession organised by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, with the ensuing violence barrelling into neighbouring districts and cities, including Gurugram, leading to the death of six people, with a further 88 injured.
Yadav was picked up by Haryana Police on September 12 in connection with an incendiary social media post on August 26. He was handed over to the Rajasthan Police after it obtained a transit remand from a court in Nuh.
Lawrence Bishnoi, meanwhile, is jailed in a Punjab prison but has been taken on remand by the Gujarat Police in connection with a case in that state. He is also an accused or is involved in several cases of murder and extortion, including the sensational gunning down of Congress leader and Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, popularly known as Sidhu Moosewala, on May 29 last year.
Anmol Bishnoi, meanwhile, is believed to be in the US, according to police.
