'Cow vigilante' Monu Manesar to be produced in Rajasthan court on Thursday

Police in Rajasthan will produce suspected cow vigilante Monu Manesar in a court again on Thursday in connection with the killing of two Muslim men from the state whose charred bodies were found in Haryana's Bhiwani district in February, officials said.

A police official, on the condition of anonymity, said during his two-day interrogation, Monu Manesar revealed that he was in touch with arrested accused Rinku and the duo had spoken on the phone before and after the abduction of Nasir and Junaid, the victims.

The official said Monu Manesar was involved in the crime, but whether he was the mastermind or not is still being probed.

"The two-day police remand of Monu Manesar ends on Thursday. He will be produced in the court during the day. If there is a need for further interrogation, his remand will be sought from the court," Deeg Superintendent of Police (SP) Brijesh Jyoti Upadhyay told PTI.

Monu Manesar -- booked by the Rajasthan Police for the killing of Nasir (25) and Junaid (35) and accused by some of inciting the recent violence in Haryana's Nuh -- was nabbed on Tuesday.

While the Haryana Police did not confirm that the Bajrang Dal leader was detained, an office-bearer of the outfit's parent organisation -- the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) -- said he was picked up from Gurugram's Manesar.

He was handed over to the Rajasthan Police after it obtained a transit remand from a court in Nuh.

Monu Manesar -- whose official name is Mohit Yadav -- was then brought to Bharatpur and produced in a court, which sent him to police custody for two days.

In February, Monu Manesar was named in an FIR lodged by the Rajasthan Police after Nasir and Junaid were found dead in a burnt car in Loharu in Haryana's Bhiwani.

The men from Ghatmika village in Rajasthan's Deeg (formerly Bharatpur) district were allegedly abducted by suspected cow vigilantes, who then crossed the border into Haryana.

The Rajasthan Police said last month that Monu Manesar's role in hatching a conspiracy and abetting the crime was "under active investigation".

Monu Manesar was also accused by some of being a trigger for the July violence in which a VHP procession was targeted by mobs in Nuh -- leading to the deaths of six people in that district and neighbouring Gurugram.