Nuh violence: Congress MLA Mamman Khan gets interim bail, to be released Wednesday

Nuh (Haryana): Congress MLA Mamman Khan, arrested last month in connection with the July 31 Nuh violence, was granted interim bail by a court here on Tuesday in two cases.

Khan, however, will have to spend Tuesday night in jail as the release order did not reach the prison authorities till 6 pm, officials said. He is expected to be released Wednesday morning, they added.

According to police officials, the sessions court granted him the relief till the next date of hearing on October 18.

Of the four FIRs registered against him, the legislator had already been granted bail in two cases by another court here Saturday but he remained in prison as the hearing in the other two was scheduled for October 3.

On Tuesday, he was granted interim bail by the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Ajay Sharma.

"The court granted him interim bail till October 18 in two pending cases in FIR number 137 and 148 registered at the Nagina police station," Khan's counsel Devla said.

Police earlier said Khan, the MLA from Ferozpur Jhirka here, was accused of provoking people and inciting violence. He was arrested on September 15.

Devla said the prosecution claimed that some data had been deleted from the mobile phone of the MLA and sent the device to a laboratory to recover the data.

"So the next hearing on the regular bail plea will be held on October 18. We are furnishing the bail bond and Mamman Khan will be released from jail soon," he said.

A religious procession led by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) was attacked by mobs in Nuh on July 31. Six people were killed in the incident and the ensuing communal violence. A cleric was killed in an attack on a mosque in adjoining Gurugram as the violence spilt over.

The Congress' Haryana unit alleged that the MLA's arrest was a "political witch-hunt" and demanded a judicial probe into the Nuh violence under the supervision of a high court judge.