Nagesh Samrat, who is among the 8 arrested in connection with the murder of 18-year-old Amir Hanzla in Patna, had warned protesters of CAA-NRC of a “return” of Godhra riots.
He can be heard saying in a video posted on 17 December, “You have burnt buses and trains. Tomorrow, if Godhra return happens, don’t say that Modiji is a villain.”
Nagesh is the district president of Hindutva outfit, Hindu Putra Sangathan, which was red-flagged by the police in May, 2019.
Besides being charged with murder of Amir Hanzla, who was last seen at a protest called by RJD on 21 December near Phulwari Sharif, Samrat and his associates are also accused of instigating communal riots in the city during the protest through Facebook lives.
Phulwari Sharif SHO, Rafiqur Rehman, told The Quint that Nagesh Samrat was arrested by the police on 23 December, before Amir’s body was found, on the charges of rioting and later the murder charge was added to the FIR. Nagesh is a repeat offender and has been arrested earlier on various charges including inciting of violence, the police said.
In one of the videos being probed by the police, Nagesh can be seen asking “all Hindu sons” to “come to Phulwari Sharif” and raise their voices against the alleged “police torture of Hindus”.
SHO Rafiqur Rehman said, “They had a plan to stop the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Patna. Nagesh and a couple of his associates are not even from Patna. They had come from outside to flare up communal tensions in the city.”
“Those arrested have admitted that their common intention was to stop the protest march. They claimed they wanted to save Hindus and garner support for CAA-NRC,” the SHO added.
Among the others arrested so far, Vikas Singh is the Patna district youth president of the Hindu Samaj Party. Santosh Kumar aka Dhelwa is also a part of the outfit. The others arrested are Raees Paswan, Deepak Mahto and Chaintu Kumar aka Sikandar Kumar. While Raees, Chainto and Santosh are accused in various murder cases, Deepak has been in and out of jail on various charges including liquor smuggling.
There are about a dozen people who are accused of killing Amir Hanzla. Former president of the Bajrang Dal youth wing, Sanjeet Kumar aka Jonty, and Hindu Samaj Party district president Vinod Mahto are still evading arrest. Sanjeet has been previously jailed in connection with a communal riot, the police told The Telegraph.
Nagesh Samrat Has a History of Bigotry
A closer look at Nagesh’s Facebook profile shows that he has a long history of making communal posts.
Referring to the murder of an alleged RSS worker and his family in West Bengal, Nagesh, in another video with three other boys, can be heard saying, “You killed an entire family along with an innocent pregnant woman. But when your family is killed in the similar way, then don't say it is mob lynching.”
A day after Bandhu Prakash Pal was found murdered in his home with his wife and young son, the BJP claimed that he was a RSS functionary. The victims' family, however, insisted Pal had no political affiliation.
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