Red Fort violence case: Delhi Police arrests another accused, two swords recovered

Another accused in the Red Fort violence case, Maninder Singh was held by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, he was captured in a video swinging swords at the police on duty during the violence at Red Fort on Republic Day 2021.

New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested one the most wanted person in the Red Fort violence case near Delhi's Pitam Pura. Maninder Singh was held by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, also two swords were recovered from his house in Swaroop Nagar.

The police claimed that the accused was captured in a video swinging two swords at the police on duty during the violence at Red Fort on Republic Day 2021.

In a press statement, the police said that the arrested accused disclosed to the police that he was radicalised by seeing provocative Facebook posts of various groups. He used to visit Singhu Border in Delhi frequently and was highly motivated by speeches made by the leaders there.

Further, the police said that Singh disclosed that he had motivated six other persons in his neighbourhood who then accompanied him to the farmers' tractor march heading from Singhu border towards Mukarba Chowk. 

The police allege that Singh along with his associates entered Red Fort and Maninder did the act of sword dancing/swinging which motivated violent protesters to cause more mayhem. 

Police found a video of him swinging swords at Red Fort on Republic Day in his mobile phone along with photos confirming his presence at the Singhu protest site.

Further interrogation of the accused is underway, said Delhi Police.

Earlier, Iqbal Singh, 45, from Ludhiana was arrested by the Northern Range of Special Cell from Punjab's Hoshiayarpur. He was part of the group of key accused Punjabi actor-cum-activist Deep Sidhu's group that breached the security at Red Fort during Republic Day tractor rally and created ruckus.

Their videos went viral on social media where he was purportedly heard threatening cops on duty and inciting protesters to go on a rampage.

Meanwhile, the Special Task Force had last week arrested accused Sukhdev Singh, who was also carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 was held from Chandigarh after giving the forces a 100 km chase. While Sidhu was arrested by a team of Delhi Police's Special Cell from Karnal in Haryana on Monday.