Man wanted for Jahangirpuri violence held

Vichitra Veer, deputy commissioner of police (crime branch), said acting on a tip-off, officers of the crime branch arrested 29-year-old Sanwar Malik alias Akbar alias Kalia from a place in C Block, Jahangirpuri on Tuesday.

The crime branch of the Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested a wanted man, who was later declared a proclaimed offender in the Jahangirpuri communal violence in north-west Delhi that broke out on April 16 this year.

At Jahangirpuri, after the April 16 clashes. (Sanchit Khanna /HT PHOTO)

Vichitra Veer, deputy commissioner of police (crime branch), said acting on a tip-off, officers of the crime branch arrested 29-year-old Sanwar Malik alias Akbar alias Kalia from a place in C Block, Jahangirpuri on Tuesday.

“Our informer told us that he may flee to his native place in Suta Hata of Medinipur district in West Bengal. Malik was working as a scrap dealer in Jahangirpuri and had been residing in C Block for the last few years. On the day of Hanuman Jayanti, when the communal clashes took place, he and the other co-accused instigated the public and pelted stones and glass bottles on the processioners and police personnel deployed on duty. He was declared a proclaimed offender by the chief metropolitan magistrate court in the case and the Delhi Police had announced a reward of ₹25,000 on his arrest,” the DCP said.

Veer said when the police team tried to apprehend Malik on the basis of the tip-off, he managed to slip away from his hideout in C Block to CD Block Jhuggi. “Our team searched that area and he was finally nabbed. The locals tried to help Malik and threw bricks at the police team. But eventually he was arrested. A separate case under sections 186 (obstructing public servant), 353 (criminal force) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, has also been registered in Jahangirpuri against Malik and unknown persons, on the basis of the complaint given by the injured police officials,” he said.

“Malik belongs to a poor family and works as scrap dealer. He started getting involved in the crimes such as theft and was arrested for the first time in 2016 in an attempt to murder case, along with his brother. He is named in at least six cases of attempt to murder, robbery and Arms Act in Jahangirpuri, Saket and Mandir Marg police stations,” he said.

Till date, more than two dozen persons have been arrested in the Jahangirpuri communal violence and a charge-sheet has been filed before the court.