Sushil Tiwari, the head of an outfit that calls itself the Hindu Army, was arrested by the Delhi Police in connection with the 8 August event at Jantar Mantar, where hundreds of people had gathered and raised anti-Muslim slogans. Tiwari, 40, is a resident of Lucknow and was apprehended by the police at his house late at night on Friday, 20 August, and was subsequently brought to Delhi.
The Indian Express reported that apart from raising slogans, Tiwari had also allegedly mobilised people for the event. A senior police officer told them that Tiwari was identified based on videos circulating on social media. "We found he was in Lucknow and sent a team there to arrest him."
Tiwari, who also works as a travel agent frequented Delhi for work. "He received an invite to the event on a WhatsApp group and allegedly came to Jantar Mantar to join the other accused," an officer told The Indian Express.
Earlier on 10 August, Deepak Singh Hindu, the head of a group called the Hindu Force, was also arrested along with Preet Singh, Vinod Sharma, and two others. The four are still in police custody and were also a part of the WhatsApp group which was allegedly created to mobilise people for sloganeering at Jantar Mantar.
Seven people have been arrested in connection with the case, including Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, who was also a former Delhi BJP spokesperson. Upadhyay was granted bail after two days in judicial custody.
The police have identified two others in the sloganeering case. Pinky Chaudhary, who had taken responsibility for the violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in January 2020 and Uttam Malik, who is absconding.
(With inputs from The Indian Express.)
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