LUCKNOW: Mahant Bajrang Muni Das, who allegedly threatened to rape Muslim women, was arrested. He was nabbed from Sitapur, a district 10 km away from Lucknow, 11 days after his controversial speech. Bajrang Muni Das is the head of Maharishi Shri Laxman Das Udasin Ashram in Khairabad.

A two-minute video, showing Muni threatening to rape Muslim women, had surfaced on April 2. The National Women’s Commission had intervened in the incident. The commission had said that such hate speech was unacceptable and demanded the immediate arrest of Muni Das. He has been charged with sexual assault, hate speech and defamation. A video of Muni apologizing for the incident was also circulated hours after the police registered case against him. ‘My statement is being wrongly interpreted. I apologize for the incident’, Muni said in the video.

More than 100 people, including top officials, civilians and former armed forces chiefs, have written to President Ramnath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking action into the incident.