Red Fort vandalism case: 26-year-old protestor Buta Singh held from Punjab

DCP Monika Bhardwaj said the accused Buta Singh was seen in a video along with his associates at Red Fort in which they claimed that they had hoisted the religious flag at the main Flag hoisting area.

Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested a 26-year-old protester, who had a reward of Rs 50,000 for his arrest, over his alleged involvement in the Red Fort vandalism case.

“Buta Singh was arrested on Tuesday evening from Talwandi Sobha Singh village in Tarn Taran district by a team led by ACP Rajesh Kumar of the Special Investigation Unit of the Crime Branch from Punjab. His family members and his neighbors tried hard to get him out of the police custody. They tried to block the roads with their tractors, but the team with the help of local police finally managed to come out from the village along with the accused,” a senior police officer said.

DCP Monika Bhardwaj said the accused Buta Singh was seen in a video along with his associates at Red Fort in which they claimed that they had hoisted the religious flag at the main Flag hoisting area. “During questioning, the accused disclosed that he got instigated after seeing provoking Facebook posts of various groups. He has visited the protest site at Singhu border several times and was highly motivated by speeches made by leaders. As per their plan, Buta Singh along with his five-six associates and other unknown armed miscreants entered Red Fort and created ruckus. His act of hoisting the flag had motivated violent protesters to cause more mayhem at Red Fort by indulging in all sorts of violence against personnel on duty including policemen deployed for Republic Day security duty and damaging the historical monument of Red Fort,” she said.

Days after the incident, Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 for anyone who shared information that could help trace the accused.

Till date, over 40 FIRs have been registered and 135 people arrested in the case. Around 1,000 people, on 30-40 tractors and 150 motorcycles and cars, had forcibly entered the Red Fort premises on January 26, where they chased and assaulted policemen, looted their anti-riot gear, held some hostage inside a public toilet and vandalised the ticket counter, the FIR based on a complaint by SHO (Kotwali) Rituraj read. The Nishan Sahib, the Sikh religious flag, was also hoisted at the Red Fort.

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