Delhi riots: Cops file three new charge sheets

The Delhi Police on Tuesday filed three charge sheets in a Delhi court in three separate cases related to the north-east Delhi communal riots that claimed the lives

The Delhi Police on Tuesday filed three charge sheets in a Delhi court in three separate cases related to the north-east Delhi communal riots that claimed the lives of 53 people and left more than 400 others injured in February this year.

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In one of the three cases, the police have arrested and charge-sheeted five persons, including Shahrukh Pathan, the man whose video of pointing a pistol at a policeman during the riots had gone viral on the Internet. Being the prime accused, Pathan has already been arrested and charge-sheeted for allegedly brandishing the gun and firing at head constable Deepak Dahiya, senior crime branch officers privy to the case said.

Both the incidents had taken place at the Jafarabad-Maujpur Chowk at the same time in February, but separate cases were registered and Pathan was booked and arrested for two of them.

In the second case, Pathan and four others have been charged with rioting, attempt to murder, assaulting government officials, and criminal conspiracy. The charge sheet, in this case, was filed before a duty magistrate in a city court on Tuesday.

The police have said in the charge sheet that on February 24 around 11 am, two groups—one supporting and the other opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizen (NRC)—clashed at Maujpur Chowk.

“...incidents of stone-pelting, brick batting, arson, firing and sabotage from both sides led to injuries to several police personnel as well as public persons and created an atmosphere of fear among public...,” the police have mentioned in the charge sheet.

One man, Vinod (identified by his first name) lost his life in the incident but a separate case was registered in connection with his murder, an investigator, who did not want to be named, said.

Reacting to the allegations made in the charge sheet, Pathan’s lawyer, Asghar Khan, said that his client is being falsely charged. He said that in the first case, the complainant, (head constable Deepak Dahiya)’s statement in the first information report (FIR) about opening fire is contrary to an interview he gave to a TV channel after the incident.

“My client is being falsely charged in the case. The complainant told a TV channel that my client did not fire. However, in the FIR he has said that he had to duck to save himself from the bullet. The charge of attempt to murder (307 of IPC) is also false as Pathan opened fire in self-defence and not to injure or kill anyone,” Khan said.

The other two cases in which charge sheets were filed on Tuesday were for the deaths of two persons during the communal violence in Kardampuri neighbourhood on February 24 and 25. Eight people—four in each case—were arrested and charged with murder, rioting, criminal conspiracy and other offences.

The police said that on February 24, one Mohammad Furkan was shot dead during the communal riots at the Kardampuri puliya (culvert). Four persons have been charge-sheeted in the case.

On February 25, a 32-year-old e-rickshaw driver, Deepak, was caught and lynched by the mob near a government dispensary in Kardampuri where communal violence broke out. Four persons have been arrested and charged with rioting and killing Deepak, the police said in their third charge sheet.

The police on Tuesday maintained that during their investigation in the three cases, “it has emerged that there was a deep-rooted conspiracy which triggered the communal riot.”

“...the conspirators caused disruption by the dual scheme of spreading misinformation on the CAA and causing chakka jam on main arterial roads, which triggered a major communal riot,” the police said in a statement.

A total of 88 charge sheets have filed by Delhi Police in different cases related to the north-east Delhi riots so far, including three against suspended AAP MLA Tahir Husain (one of which accuses him of planning the murder of IB staffer Ankit Sharma), one against six persons for the death of 85-year-old Akbari Begum, against Pinjra Tod activists Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal, one against Khalid Saifi of United Against Hate, one against 17 persons for the death of head constable Rattan Lal, and one against 12 persons for the death of Dilbar Negi.