‘Stone-pelting in Delhi's Jahangirpuri, no communal angle’

Deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Usha Rangnani said the Jahangirpuri police station received a call around 6pm on Friday, reporting stone pelting and firing in the E-block. A police team immediately rushed to the spot.

Panic gripped the Jahangirpuri area, scene of communal clashes in April, on Friday when a group of unidentified people pelted stones and fired in the air, damaging some vehicles, sending the local police in a tizzy.

At Jahangirpuri, after the April 16 clashes. (HT file image) (Sanchit Khanna )

Deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Usha Rangnani said the Jahangirpuri police station received a call around 6pm on Friday, reporting stone pelting and firing in the E-block. A police team immediately rushed to the spot.

Police said a local resident Ajay Khatri, 26, told the police Madan Mohan alias Happy and his associates -- Rohit, Rahul, Abhi, Pagla -- all residents of E-block Jahangirpuri came looking looking for him, and pelted stones at some vehicles and fired twice in the air.

DCP Rangnani said it was learnt that on July 3, Khatri had an altercation with Happy over parking issue, following which Khatri and his friends thrashed Happy.

“On Friday evening, Happy and his associates came to take revenge on Khatri and pelted stones at his house and fired in the air. We have registered a case of rioting and firing and are looking for the miscreants who fled the incident spot,” added the DCP. Nobody was injured in the stone pelting and firing, she added.

Police officers said there was no communal angle to the incident. They added that the police reacted quickly since the incident came two days ahead of the Muslim festival of Id-ul-Zuha which will be celebrated on Sunday.

Clashes broke out between Hindus and Muslims during a religious procession in Jahangirpuri on April 16, injuring some policemen and a resident. The violence took place when a procession of 350-400 people, to mark Hanuman Jayanti, was crossing Jahangirpuri’s C-Block, where a scuffle broke out and then escalated into stone pelting.