Congress legislator from the Ferozepur Jhirka segment in Nuh, Mamman Khan, who has been arrested in connection with the communal clashes in the Muslim-dominated district on 31 July, will be produced in a local court on Friday.

As a preventive measure, Section 144 has been imposed in Nuh and police presence has been increased. Police sources said to prevent assembly of people, Friday namaz would not be allowed in the open.

Mamman Khan was arrested by the Haryana Police late on Thursday after  “preliminary questioning” regarding his role in the clashes which left six dead and many injured.

The Haryana government maintained a conspiracy was hatched to trigger the clashes during the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) rally in Nuh. Khan has been named as an accused in the first information report (FIR) on the communal clashes in Nuh.

The state government claimed substantial evidence, including phone call records, to prove the charges against the MLA. The MLA is being accused of making calls to his supporters and instigating them to resort to violence during the VHP-led procession on 31 July.

An arrested accused, Taufiq, is said to have pointed to Khan’s involvement in the incident. The two were in touch with each other through phone calls on 29 July and 30 July before the Nuh violence erupted on 31 July and Khan was reported within a 1.5 km radius of the location of the violence. His social media posts on 30 July were also allegedly provocative.

The police had sent two notices to the controversial MLA to join the investigation, but he failed to appear before it citing health reasons. He had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a high-level special investigation team (SIT) comprising officers not below the rank of inspector general of police (IGP) to probe the case.

After the arrest of Bajrang Dal leader and cow vigilante Mohit Yadav alias Monu Manesar for his alleged role in the Junaid-Nasir lynching case, right-wing outfits were seeking Khan’s arrest alleging that he had instigated his supporters to indulge in violence.

Khan had named Manesar as one of those who was responsible for the killing of alleged cow smugglers Nasir and Junaid. The bodies of the two, who belonged to Rajasthan, were found dumped in Bhiwani in Haryana.