Haldwani violence accused Abdul Malik arrested from Delhi: Uttarakhand Police

The Uttarakhand Police has arrested the key accused in the Haldwani violence, Abdul Malik, and two others, a senior police official said.

Earlier today, Abdul Malik’s lawyers had moved an anticipatory bail application in the court of additional district and sessions judge, Haldwani.

Inspector General of Police (Provisioning and Modernisation) Nilesh Anand Bharne, who is also the spokesperson for the Uttarakhand Police, said, “We have arrested the key accused, Abdul Malik, from Delhi.”

With the fresh arrests, the total number of arrests has reached 81.

DGP Abhinav Kumar has announced a cash reward of ₹50,000 for the police team involved in Malik’s arrest.

Earlier in the day, Malik’s lawyers had moved an anticipatory bail application in the court of additional district and sessions judge, Haldwani.

Ajay Kumar Bahuguna, Malik’s lawyer, said, “We didn’t know that he had been arrested and moved an anticipatory bail application in the court. The bail application will be cancelled automatically.”

Bahuguna said, “Two-three days before the incident, Malik had left Haldwani and wasn’t in the town on the day of violence. He was in Dehradun.”

He said they were exploring all legal options and will likely move a bail application on the same grounds.”

Nainital senior superintendent of police (SSP) Prahlad Narayan Meena had earlier said that Abdul Malik who was the occupant of the “nazul land” had erected an illegal construction and had led the protest against the demolition.

The Nainital Police has already attached the properties of Abdul Malik and his son Abdul Moid.

The Haldwani Municipal Corporation on February 13 served a notice to Abdul Malik for recovery of ₹2.44 crore for damages to vehicles and equipment of the civic body during the violence on February 8.

Violent clashes erupted in the Banbhulpura area of Haldwani district on the evening of February 8, when civic authorities razed two structures — Masjid Mariam (mosque) and Abdul Razzaq Zakaria madrasa — alleging they were illegally built on state government (Nazul) land. As workers from the Haldwani municipal corporation and Nainital administration razed the 22-year-old structures, residents of the area set afire several vehicles, and Banbhulpura police station and hurled stones at the demolition team as well as police personnel, according to police.

The administration had subsequently issued shoot-at-sight orders and imposed a curfew in the town. The violence left five dead, and 150 people injured. It was earlier presumed that six people had died in the violence. Police, however, later revealed that a man from Bihar, who was presumed to have been killed during violence, was murdered by a police constable and his associates because of an alleged affair with the constable’s wife.

The victim, identified as Prakash Kumar Singh (24), had reportedly arrived in Haldwani in search of employment. Police arrested constable Birendra Singh (36), who was posted in Udham Singh Nagar district, his brother-in-law Suraj Bain (28), and his associates Prem Singh (30) and Naeem Khan (50) for Singh’s murder. Meanwhile, police said the constable’s wife was absconding and efforts were on to search for her.

Days after the violence, the Nainital administration on February 20 lifted the curfew from Banbhulpura locality.

For the violence, the Nainital Police had registered a total of three FIRs for the attack at the police station, violence during the anti-encroachment drive and vandalising vehicles. The FIRs were registered under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 307 (attempt to murder), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to public servant), 353, 333, 427 and more of the IPC and sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

Meanwhile, the Nainital administration has decided to allot the nazul land freed from encroachment in Banbhulpura to three departments.

Sub divisional magistrate (SDM) Haldwani Paritosh Verma said, “We have decided to allot the nazul land freed from encroachment to police for setting up a police station, to the women and child development department for setting up a day care centre for the children of migrant labourers coming to the area for mining work in Gola river, and to the information department for a media centre.”

The Nainital Police has also registered an FIR against Malik, his wife Safia, and four others for allegedly carrying out illegal plotting, illegal construction, and illegal transfer of land by using the name of a deceased person under criminal conspiracy.

However, Safia Malik, in her petition against the Haldwani Municipal Corporation’s demolition notice in the Nainital high court on February 6, contended that the contentious land has been with their family since 1994.

The Haldwani municipal corporation tried to forcibly take possession of the property on January 27 and three days later, it served a notice of demolition to his client, the lawyer alleged.

The Uttarakhand high court on February 14 directed the state government and the Haldwani Municipal Corporation to file a counter affidavit within four weeks on a plea filed by Safia Malik.

Salman Khurshid, who appeared on behalf of petitioner Safia Malik (Abdul Malik’s wife), said the due process of demolition wasn’t followed by the Haldwani Municipal Corporation.

Meanwhile, Ashish Joshi, representing Haldwani Municipal Corporation, argued that the lease of the nazul land had already expired and no relevant documents were produced by the occupant before the demolition.

The court fixed the matter for the next hearing on May 8.