Congress MLA Mamman Khan arrested in Nuh violence case: Police

Gurugram/Chandigarh: Congress MLA Mamman Khan has been arrested in connection with the July 31 Nuh violence case, police said on Friday.

The Ferozepur Jhirka legislator, who was named as an accused in an FIR lodge after the communal clashes, was arrested late last night.

Satish Kumar, Ferozepur Jhirkha Deputy Superintendent of Police and the head of the Special Investigation Team investigating the case, confirmed the arrest.

"Yes," he said, when asked if the MLA has been arrested.

Senior Congress MLA from Nuh Aftab Ahmed also confirmed Khan's arrest. "The police have given information to us that he has been arrested," said the Deputy Leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the Haryana Assembly.

Sources said security has been tightened in and around the court complex in Nuh where Khan is expected to be produced by the police later in the day.

Khan was named an accused in an FIR lodged after the Nuh violence, the Haryana government had told the High Court on Thursday, also claiming that the police have phone call records and other evidence to back the charges.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had addressed the Mamman Khan case at a press conference in Chandigarh on Wednesday. "If during investigations he is found involved then he will not be spared," he had said.

Haryana's Additional Advocate General Deepak Sabharwal told the High Court that Khan was named an accused on September 4 after the evidence against him was evaluated. There was "ample evidence" against him, he later told reporters on Thursday.

A Vishva Hindu Parishad-led procession was attacked by mobs in Nuh on July 31. Six people were killed, most of them during the attack. A cleric died in an attack on a mosque in adjoining Gurugram.

The Ferozepur Jhirka MLA had moved the court on Tuesday, seeking protection from arrest while claiming that he was being framed in the case when he wasn't even in Nuh the day the violence broke out.

The MLA's counsel told reporters after the hearing that Khan has only now come to know that he has been named in the FIR. The court had said Khan can seek appropriate remedy "for protection of liberty in accordance with law", the counsel had said.

Earlier, the MLA was asked twice by the Nuh Police to join the investigation but he failed to appear before it. He did not comply with the police summons for August 31, saying he had a viral fever.

Several FIRs were registered after the violence including one at a police station in Nuh on August 1. Khan had been given a notice under section 160 of the CrPC (requiring his presence before police) in connection with the August 1 FIR.

In his petition, Khan stated that he was at his Gurugram residence between July 26 to August 1 and did not go to the places where the violence had occurred. But the government's counsel had said after the hearing that the evidence went against Khan's claim.

Sabharwal had said Khan's call detail records, his phone tower location, his personal security officer's statement and other evidence falsified the MLA's claim.

The state counsel told the court that a co-accused, Taufiq, who was arrested on September 9 has also named Khan.

The counsel said phone call details and tower locations of Khan and Taufiq were examined. It was found that calls were exchanged between them on July 29 and 30, ahead of July 31 violence, he had said.