A 26-year-old man who was wanted in connection with the Red Fort violence case was arrested by Delhi Police Crime Branch on Wednesday after being on the run for five months.
The accused, Buta Singh, had a bounty of ₹50,000 on his head. He will be taken into police remand after he is produced before the magistrate at Tis Hazari Courts, the police said.
DCP (Crime) Monika Bhardwaj said, “Our team received specific information about Buta Singh. A team was sent to Punjab which managed to trace him. Subsequently, a raid was conducted at his village in Talwandi Sobha Singh.”
“Our raiding team faced strong resistance from his family and neighbours who tried to get Singh out of police custody. They tried to block roads with tractors, but with the help of local police, our team finally managed to come out from the village along with the accused,” she said.
Singh along with his associates was seen in a video in which they claimed to have hoisted religious flags at Red Fort, the officer said.
On January 26, thousands of farmers protesting against the Centre’s new farm laws had clashed with the police and entered Red Fort during a tractor parade, some hoisted flags at the ramparts.
During interrogation, he revealed that he was radicalised by provocative Facebook posts. He used to frequently visit Singhu border and was motivated by the speeches made by the leaders there.
“As per their plan, Singh with his associates and other unknown armed miscreants entered Red Fort and created mayhem. His act motivated the already violent protesters to cause more mayhem by indulging in all sorts of violence against personnel on duty, including policemen deployed for Republic Day security and damaging the historical monument,” Ms. Bhardwaj said.
Thousands of farmers protesting against the Centre’s new farm laws had clashed with the police during the tractor parade on January 26.
Many of the protesters, driving tractors, had entered Red Fort. Some protesters even hoisted religious flags on its domes and a flagstaff at the ramparts, where the national flag is unfurled on Independence Day.
