Roorkee, Uttarakhand: “Tum sab maroge (You will all die)” – this is what Yati Narsinghanand, one of the religious leaders accused in the Haridwar hate speeches case, told police officers when co-accused Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi was arrested Thursday.
Jitendra Tyagi, who was Waseem Rizvi before he converted, is the first accused to be arrested in the hate speech case in which provocative remarks were made against Muslims at a “Dharma Sansad”.
Uttarakhand Police have summoned Yati Narsinghanand and another accused, Sadhvi Annapurna.
In a video circulating on social media, police officers are seen requesting Narsinghanand to cooperate as they take Jitendra Tyagi into custody.
Seated in a car, he is seen asking the officers why Tyagi was being arrested. The officers explain that they have to make the arrest in connection with the cases filed against him.
“I am with him in all the three cases. Did he do it alone?” Narsinghanand asks.
The officers are seen asking him to get out of the car so they can proceed, but Narsinghanand appears adamant.
As the officers say “Tyagi understands the situation”, Narsinghanand replies, “But I don’t. He became a Hindu counting on our support.”
A former chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board, Waseem Rizvi converted last month and took the name of Jitendra Singh Narayan Tyagi. Narsinghanand, chief priest of Ghaziabad’s Dasna Devi temple who is known for making controversial remarks, had organised the ceremony.
As the officers keep insisting, Narinsinghand is heard saying, “Tum sab maroge, apne baccho ko bhi…(All of you will die, your children too…”
Tyagi was arrested in Roorkee, Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police Yogendra Rawat told news agency PTI.
Narsinghanand, Tyagi and Annapurnna are among more than 10 people named in the FIRs lodged over speeches that called for genocide and the use of arms against Muslims.
The first arrest in the case comes after the Supreme Court Wednesday directed the Uttarakhand government to submit an affidavit within 10 days on action taken in the case.