Two arrested in Junaid-Nasir murder case; search on for others

Nearly two months after the Junaid-Nasir murder case, Rajasthan police arrested two of the accused. One accused was arrested soon after the incident.

Bharatpur: The Rajasthan police on Friday arrested two accused for allegedly being involved in the abduction and murder of Junaid and Nasir, both residents of Bharatpur district. The arrested accused, identified as Monu Rana and Gogi, were wanted in the abduction and murder case of Junaid-Nasir, said the police . Bharatpur Range IG and District SP will provide further details, said an official. The arrested duo had rewards of Rs 5,000 each on them. Earlier, on February 17, police had arrested Rinku Saini in connection with the case. With three persons in police custody, search is now on for all the accused who are currently absconding.

On February 15, the Nasir (25) and Junaid (35) were attacked by a mob on the suspicion that they were cow smugglers. The mob abducted the duo and later set on fire the car while they were sitting inside. Their charred bodies were found in a Bolero car in Barwas village in Haryana's Bhiwani district on the next day. The family alleged that their sons were killed by members of the Bajrang Dal but the outfit denied it. Rajasthan Police identified eight accused in the case and FIR was registered under Sections 143, 365, 367 and 368 of the Indian Penal Code. The eight accused include Monu, Gogi, Anil, Kalu, Srikant, Kishore, Vikas and Shashikant. During investigation, it was revealed that 12 others were also involved.

The incident drew severe criticism from the masses with protests being launched demanding justice for Junaid and Nasir. For the last two months, police have been conducting raids and also launched search operations in Haryana and Rajasthan as well as other states for the absconding accused. Meanwhile, speaking to the media, Inspector General of Police (Bharatpur) Gaurav Srivastava said that during the initial interrogation, both the accused revealed that Junaid and Nasir were abducted on suspicion of cow smuggling.

" According to the accused, they brutally thrashed both the deceased and when they failed to fetch any information regarding cattle smuggling from them, they took them to a police station in Haryana. They also claimed that the Haryana police seeing the condition of Nasir and Junaid refused to take action," the IG said.

The IG also said that during interrogation the accused claimed that when Haryana police refused to take action against the duo seeing their condition, the accused took Nasir and Junaid and murdered them. " The accused said that the bodies were put in a vehicle and it was set ablaze," he said.