"They planned this long before", says Nuh violence accused Bittu Bajrangi

In an interview with ETV Bharat, Bittu Bajrangi talked about Nuh violence and denied that a purported 'hateful video' shared by him sparked the clashes. He said that this was a long-planned conspiracy and did not happen within half an hour.

Faridabad (Haryana): Bittu Bajrangi, a Bajrang Dal leader, who has been accused of instigating violence in Haryana's Nuh by sharing a purported 'hateful video', hit back at his critics, saying that there was a larger conspiracy behind the clashes. He asked how a huge crowd of people could gather along with weapons within half an hour of his sharing the video.

An FIR was filed against him, however, Bajrangi got bail within hours of his arrest. In a conversation with ETV Bharat, Bittu Bajrangi talked about how violence erupted in Nuh and also alleged that he has been receiving threat calls every day.

Bittu said, "We take out the Shobha Yatra every year, this year too, it was happening very peacefully. We prepare for months for this yatra. When the yatra started again after a halt, some people started pelting stones at us from a mosque. We decided to carry on the yatra as we thought there were fewer people. But as we moved forward, we saw one of our buses was set on fire. We returned to the temple. There we saw that they were firing at us from the hills as well. At least 200 vehicles were set on fire in front of our eyes."

Bittu refuted the claims of having swords and Ak47 during the yatra. He said, "One of our brothers, Ashok Baba, saved our mothers and sisters by firing two shots in the air from his licenced weapon when people started climbing the roof of the temple we took shelter in. This happened in the end and in the presence of administration."

Upon being asked about Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala's claim that no proper permission was taken to take out the yatra, Bittu said, "This is not the first time that we took the Shobha Yatra, this happens every year and every year we take permission before the yatra. This year too, we took permission from the District Collector. Now we do not know what according to the deputy CM is proper permission, but we had the permission of the DC to take out the yatra".

In connection with Monu Manesar, who was an accused in the abduction and brutal killing of two, Bittu said, "It is not that I share a very strong bond with Monu. I talk to him once or twice a year and that too only during our events, not otherwise. You can also ask the authorities to check my call details because I have never talked to him personally."

"People are saying that I shared a video in which I was instigating people to create unrest. How is it possible that just as I shared the video, people were ready with weapons? This huge mob from different parts of the country cannot accumulate within half an hour. This was a huge conspiracy", Bittu said. "I have been receiving hundreds of threat calls every day. An FIR was also registered against me. They arrested me and took me to the Ballabhgarh crime branch, but soon I was given bail", Bittu added.