Republic Day Violence: Who is Maninder 'Moni' Singh? Know All About Key Accused Who Was Swinging Two Swords At Red Fort

Days after Iqbal Singh was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi police, another key accused Maninder 'Moni' Singh was nabbed on Tuesday.

New Delhi: Delhi Police has arrested Maninder 'Moni' Singh; one of the most wanted persons in connection with the Red Fort violence that broke out on January 26th. The 30 year old was nabbed from Pitampura bus stop on Tuesday, after which the police recovered two swords from his house in Swaroop Nagar. He was arrested under 41.1 CrPC around 7.45 p.m.

A video had surfaced in which Singh was seen swinging the two swords ('khandas') of 4.3 feet size at the Red Fort. According to an IANS report, police said, 'he was doing the act with an intent to motivate, radicalise and energise the violent anti-national elements indulging in brutal attack on police persons on duty with swords, 'khandas', iron rods, axes, 'barsaas', 'dandas', etc., and damaging the historical monument on Republic Day.

"That sword swinging had motivated violent protesters to cause more mayhem at the Red Fort by indulging in all sorts of violence against the public servants, including policemen on duty there and causing damage to the historical monument of Red Fort," P.S. Kushwah, DCP Special Cell was quoted in the IANS article.

Who is Maninder Singh?

Maninder Singh alias 'Moni', is a resident of Swaroop Nagar and works as an AC car mechanic. Singh also runs a sword training school in an empty plot near his house.
On January 26th 2021, he was present the Red Fort when the violence broke out and the mob stormed into the Red Fort. In a subsequent video, he was seen at location with two swords. He was then in Delhi Police's Most Wanted List and was nabbed by the Special Cell led by Insp Shivkumar, Insp Pawan Kumar & Insp Karambir supervised by ACP Attar Singh on Tuesday. After he was arrested, he disclosed that he was provoked by Facebook posts of various groups, and used to frequently visit the Singhu Border. He admitted to being highly motivated by speeches made by the leaders there.

He also told the police that he had motivated six persons in his neighbourhood and on Jan 26th all six of them had accompanied the tractor rally riding on their bikes that was heading from the Singhu border towards the Mukarba Chowk. Before joining the tractor rally, Maninder had kept the two swords with him.

More incriminating evidence was found on his phone, including pictures from his presence at the at the protest site of Singhu border on different days and a video of him swinging swords at the Red Fort on January 26. 

January 26th Violence

Farmers who are protesting against the three Farm Laws, had planned to conduct a tractor rally on January 26th and path was agreed between farmers and the police. But on the day, the farmers strayed from the path, broke past barricades, breached the Red Fort and planted their flag atop it, leading to unprecedented chaos on a national festival day along their way. 

In the violence, one farmer lost his life, many protesters and policemen were injured. According to a statement by police, more than 300 police personnel have reported injuries in the violence. Several photos and videos of injured cops have been doing rounds on the social media. After the January 26th violence, stringent security measures like multi-layered barricading, concertina wires, has come up along with iron nails cemented on roads around the protest site in Delhi. 

The farmers have so far held 11 rounds of talks with the ruling dispensation and demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led regime to repeal the laws passed by the Parliament in September last year. All the talks have led to a deadlock.