The police have arrested 23 people including two minors. They have identified two prime suspects Ansar and Aslam and arrested them. Sources said the probe is aimed not only to probe the possible links of the accused with the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots and anti-CAA-NRC protests, but also to trace the local criminals, apart from some Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants, who allegedly But took part. and fueled violence.
Crime Branch has been deployed for investigation and further action. The police is also getting the help of intelligence agencies. Police said many of the arrested people have criminal records.
On Sunday, a court sent the two to one-day police custody. Another 12 accused have been sent to jail. The police informed the court that the main accused came to know about the Shobha Yatra on April 15 and hatched a conspiracy to disturb communal harmony.
Records of Ansar, one of those arrested, show that he was booked five times under the Arms and Gambling Act. Police said he was also involved in two cases of assault and has been arrested several times as a preventive measure in the past. Aslam (21), who allegedly shot and injured a cop, has been booked for assault with deadly weapons, violating prohibitory orders and making criminal intimidation registered at Jahangirpuri police station in 2020. was also found to be involved.
Another accused, C-Block resident Salim Chikna, was involved in cases of attempt to murder and dacoity.
Various forms of events floated throughout the day. Media persons had gathered at Kushal Chowk and the entire area was strategically cordoned off to avoid any untoward incident. Religious sloganeering also took place from the spot.
On police widening the scope of its investigation, sources said that it is being probed as to how mobs, weapons, a large number of stones and Molotov cocktails were mobilized on the spot. Some recovered communications also indicated that plans to disrupt the yatra were in the works for two days. Sources said that several accused, including Ansar, had left their phones at home to hide their location.
FIR accessed by times of India Shows the sequence of events. It said the yatra was completely peaceful, but the disruption started when it reached near a mosque in C Block. The FIR states that a group of 5-6 people led by Ansar started an argument over the yatra being carried out in the area.
“The Shobha Yatra started from E Block Jahangirpuri at 4.15 PM. The route of the procession was BJRM Hospital Road, K Block, BC Market, Kushal Chowk and G Block and was to end at Mangal Bazar Road Mahindra Park. The procession proceeded in a peaceful manner. But when he reached a mosque at around six in the evening, a person named Ansar reached there with four or five of his people and started quarreling with the people involved in the procession.
The situation soon got out of control and stone pelting started. “…After that, an inspector informed the control room about the incident and more force reached the spot. Police was asking people to maintain peace, but a group continued to pelt stones. To control the crowd 40-50 tear gas shells were fired, police found that Jahangirpuri sub-inspector Meda Lal sustained a bullet injury in the left hand.
Special commissioner (law and order) Deepender Pathak said illegal weapons were used and physical altercation took place. Pathak, who led the patrol on Saturday night to restore peace in the area, said, “Police were present during the entire procession and formed human chains and fired tear gas shells to control the situation.”
Police have so far recovered three pistols and five swords from the accused.
Two teams of Crime Branch under the leadership of Special Commissioner (Crime) Ravindra Yadav will investigate the conspiracy of riots. “The district police and crime branch are jointly probing the matter,” Yadav said.
C Block/Kushal Chowk has also figured prominently in the chargesheet filed by the Special Cell in the case of conspiracy to commit the 2020 riots. The chargesheet said (citing call intercepts) that from there people were taken in buses to Maujpur and other areas for violence and arson in the name of anti-CAA-NRC protests.
Sources in an intelligence establishment said they are looking for a pattern of violence that took place during Ram Navami Festivals and Saturday processions in many other states. While the incident of violence in the capital was local, investigators are trying to establish what caused the mob to target a religious procession, when similar processions went off peacefully in the morning.