Hindutva leaders Sadhvi Annapurna – also known as Pooja Shakun Pandey – and Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, along with others, went to a police station on Tuesday to file a counter first information report in the Haridwar hate speech case, NDTV said. According to the report, the seers alleged that Muslim clerics have been “conspiring against Hindus and should be punished”, but the police said that no FIR was filed.

In a video that is now viral on social media, Annapurna is seen telling a police officer that a message must be sent to the people that the police are not biased. “You are a constitutional officer and you will deliver justice equally,” she added.

Following Annapurna’s comments, Narsinghanand said, “Why are you asking him to be neutral...he’s on our side,” evoking laughter from those present, including the police officer.

A first information report filed on December 23 named just one person – former Shia Waqf board chief Jitendra Narayan Tyagi. He had changed his name from Wasim Rizvi after converting to Hinduism on December 6.

Three days after the FIR was filed, the Uttarakhand Police added the names of Sadhvi Annapurna, and priest Dharamdas Maharaj. Annapurna is general secretary of the Hindutva organisation, Hindu Mahasabha.

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