JOIN USDelhi riots: Police file charge sheet against 15 accused under UAPA for larger conspiracy
Fifteen anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (anti-CAA) protesters were on Wednesday named by Delhi Police in a voluminous charge-sheet on riots in February that left 53 people killed and 583 people injured.
Running into around 17,000 pages in 11 volumes, the first charge sheet in the riots in north-east Delhi filed by Delhi Police's Special Cell, however, does not name a single pro-CAA protester. Those who are named in the charge sheet are charged under sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Indian Penal Code.
Of the 751 cases registered on Delhi riots, the Special Cell was investigating only a single case of the "larger conspiracy" behind the communal violence that ripped through north-east Delhi.
Opposition leaders and activists have accused the Delhi Police of targeting anti-CAA protesters and linking them with the riots while ignoring the role played by Hindutva supporters and hate speeches by BJP leader Kapil Mishra among others. So far, police have not questioned Mishra though the riots started soon after his speech in north-east Delhi warning that they will clear the roads occupied by anti-CAA protesters if police could not do it.
Suspended AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, Mohd Parvez Ahmed, Mohd Illyas, Saifi Khalid, Ishrat Jahan, Miran Haider, Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Shahdab Ahmed, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Mohd Saleem Khan and Athar Khan are named in the charge sheet.
Six of the 21 arrested in connection with the case have not been named in the charge sheet with the investigators saying that they could figure in a supplementary charge sheet after collecting sufficient evidence and completing statutory and procedural requirements.
The charge sheet claimed that the investigators have relied upon call records and WhatsApp chat. It has listed 747 witnesses, including 51 who have recorded their statements before the magistrate.
Taking 195 days to complete the first phase of the investigation, the Special Cell said in the charge sheet that 75 electronic devices have been seized as part of the investigation.
Sources said the charge-sheet provides the "chronology of conspiracy" and relevant events and it includes WhatsApp chats of February 24, the time when riots were happening.
It claimed that the key conspirators, who were "directly in touch with their foot soldiers", were guiding them about violence in the area. “WhatsApp groups were used by conspirators for 'violence in Seelampur-Jafarabad area. There were 25 protest sites in 25 cities. 25 WhatsApp groups were especially created for each city. The impression was given that they were an anti-CAA protest group but through these sites conspirators were being guided,” sources said quoting from the charge-sheet.
"Conspirators planned the riots while a middle ring of leaders at the area level executed the plan through the foot soldiers," police claimed. It said the anti-CAA protests were not democratic protests from the beginning and were instigating violence from the start.
In a statement, Delhi Police said that there was destruction and damage to 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 Delhi government, which indicates the scale and immense cost of the tragedy," it said.
Over 16,000 calls were received at the Police Control Room and 751 cases were registered by Delhi Police in connection with these riots. Fifty-nine cases were assigned to the Special Investigation Team of the Crime Branch while 691 cases were investigated by the local police.
During investigations, 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.