Ten members of the Hindu Raksha Dal (HRD) have been arrested by Ghaziabad Police on Monday, December 29, for allegedly distributing swords from their office in Shalimar Garden colony, officials confirmed.
The arrests followed the circulation of videos on social media showing the group displaying and handing out weapons. Police recovered eight swords from those taken into custody.
A first information report has been registered at Shalimar Garden police station against 40 people, including 16 identified individuals and 24-30 unidentified persons, according to Assistant Commissioner of Police Atul Kumar Singh. The main accused, HRD national president Bhupendra Chaudhary, also known as Pinki, remains absconding.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Trans Hindon) Nimish Patil said police teams are conducting raids to apprehend the remaining accused. “Police will not permit any outfit to disturb harmony and law and order. All the named and unnamed accused will be arrested soon,” Patil stated while speaking to the media.
The investigation began after officials received information on December 29 about the distribution of swords at the HRD office in Shalimar Garden X-2. According to the FIR, members of the group also shouted communal slogans while rallying through the area with weapons. They reportedly went door-to-door in the colony, raising pro-Hindu and anti-Muslim slogans while distributing the weapons.
The case has been registered under sections 191(2) and 191(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which pertain to rioting and rioting with deadly weapons, along with section 127(2) for wrongful confinement. Provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment Act have also been invoked. Patil indicated that more charges could be added based on evidence gathered during the investigation.
After the arrests, Chaudhary posted a video on social media claiming that swords were distributed earlier in the day and that police personnel subsequently reached the office and arrested some workers. In the video, he stated that 250 weapons have been distributed among people to face Muslims who “attack Hindu families and molest Hindu girls and women”.
“The way our Hindu brothers have been killed in Bangladesh, Hindus should keep swords to defend themselves,” Chaudhary said in the video, referring to the killing of Dipu Chandra Das, a factory worker who was beaten to death by a mob in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district on December 18 after being accused of blasphemy.
“The Hindu Raksha Dal will respond to every single jihadist in his own language,” he added, further stating that the purpose of the distribution was to “make Hindu families strong”.
During questioning, the arrested men told police they had gathered at the office on Chaudhary’s instructions and that the swords were arranged by him. Police are checking the criminal records of all those arrested and maintaining a close watch on the law and order situation in the area, which is surrounded by Muslim-dominated localities like Shaheed Nagar and Pasonda village.
