Ex-Haryana CM Hooda’s aide held

Virender Singh, a close aide of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was booked for sedition and criminal conspiracy on charges of inciting violence during the Jat agitation, was arrested on Thursday, police said. “We have arrested Virender Singh. He will be produced before court and we will be seeking his custodial interrogation,” said Rohtak SP Shashank Anand. Singh was political advisor to Hooda during his 10-year tenure as Chief Minister. He, however, claimed that he had voluntarily surrendered at the SP’s office. “I am a law abiding citizen. I have not done anything wrong and the truth will come out,” he said. The arrest came after the Rohtak district court on Tuesday denied him anticipatory bail. Last month, Singh was booked under various sections of the IPC, including sedition, after an audio clip surfaced in which he was purportedly heard talking to a Khap leader to allegedly incite violence during the Jat stir.