The Special Cell of Delhi Police on Wednesday filed a 17,500-page chargesheet against 15 people at Karkardooma court in a “larger conspiracy” case under the stringent anti terror law — Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act -related to the communal violence that broke out in February in the national Capital.
Police have so far arrested 21 people and 15 names mentioned in the chargesheet are based on scientific, documentary and testimonial evidence gathered during investigation. Police said the chargesheet against the remaining six names will be filed after collecting sufficient evidence and completing statutory and procedural requirements.
Among those named in the chargesheet are Pinjra Tod members and JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha, former Congress Councillor Ishrat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, expelled Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councillor Tahir Hussain and activist Khalid Saifi. Apart from these, the names of Mohammad Pervez Ahmed, Mohammad Illas, Shahdab Ahmad, Taslim Ahmad, Salim Malik, Mohammad Salim Khan and Athar Khan appear in the chargesheet as key conspirators.
According to police, the chargesheet includes accounts of over 700 witnesses, technical evidences WhatsApp chats and call data records (CDRs).
“Police teams have specifically mentioned about the WhatsApp chats on February 24 as evidence in the chargesheet. That was the time when riots were happening in the city. At that point, the key conspirators were guiding their foot shoulders about violence in the Northeast area. They were directly in touch with rioters,” said the sources.
Police sources also said the conspirators used a WhatsApp group, which is now closed, for violence in two areas. “Twenty-five WhatsApp groups were especially created for protest sites in the city,” said the sources.
“The impression was given that they were an anti-CAA protest group, but through these groups conspirators were being guided,” he added.
The chargesheet, which includes Tahir in the Delhi riots case, does not have names of former JNU student leader Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam as accused.
“Khalid and Imam were arrested a few days ago and their names will be in the supplementary chargesheet,” a Delhi police official said.
Earlier, the Delhi Police had said the riots were the result of a planned conspiracy after finding a common pattern during their investigation.
According to Anil Mittal, the Additional Public Relation Officer (APRO), the first chargesheet in case FIR 59/2020 has been filed by the Special Cell.
“The riots which broke out in parts of North East Delhi in February 2020 had claimed 53 deaths, 583 persons were injured and there was destruction and damage of both Government as well as private properties on a huge scale. Claims amounting to more than Rs 20crore to compensate for loss of property have been filed before the GNCTD, which indicates the scale and immense cost of the tragedy,” said Mittal.
“Over16,000 PCR calls were received and a total of 751 cases were registered by Delhi Police in connection with these riots. 59 cases were assigned to SIT constituted in the Crime Branch, 691 cases were investigated by the district police and one case which was registered on March 6, 2020 to investigate the larger conspiracy behind these riots was assigned to the Special Cell,” said Mittal.
“In the course of investigation of the 750 FIRs registered concerning the specific offences committed during the riots, 12 pistols, 121 empty cartridges, 92 live cartridges, 61 glass bottles filled with noxious chemicals and an assortment of sharp-edged weapons have been seized so far by Delhi Police,” said Mittal.
“As regards the above-mentioned case with the Special Cell, it took 195 days to complete the first phase of investigation. During this period, 747 witnesses have been examined and approximately 75 electronic devices have been seized as part of the investigation,” said Mittal adding that further investigation into the matter is continuing and supplementary chargesheets are likely to be filed in due course.
Enacted in December 2019, the CAA grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, and Parsi immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
