Delhi riots: Police name Sitaram Yechury, Yogendra Yadav, Jayati Ghosh, Apoorvanand in chargesheet

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav, economist Jayati Ghosh, Delhi University professor Apoorvanand and documentary film-maker Rahul Roy have been named by Delhi Police as "big leaders" and others who attended public protests to "provoke and mobilise crowds" for the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests that led to Delhi riots earlier this year.

In what is seen as an attempt to cement its claims that the Delhi riots was part of a "deep rooted controversy", the names of Yechury and others were mentioned in a supplementary chargesheet filed by Delhi Police in the riots between February 23 and 26, which claimed 53 lives and 581 injured.

Responding to his name appearing in the chargesheet, Yechury said the Delhi Police is under the Centre and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and its "illegitimate, illegal actions are a direct outcome" of the politics of BJP’s top leadership.

"They are scared of legitimate peaceful protests by mainstream political parties & are misusing state power to target the Opposition. BJP's illegal intimidation won't stop people from opposing discriminatory laws like CAA. To assert that all Indians are equal irrespective of their religion, caste, colour, creed, region, gender & political affiliations is not only our Right but our Duty. We will exercise it," he tweeted.

He said the hate speech videos by those who instigated violence which led to the riots are on record and the person who led violent mobs in JNU is also on video. "The BJP government and Delhi Police under it, can’t see those because it is hell-bent upon destroying our democracy," he added.

However, the Delhi Police later "clarified that Sitaram Yechury, Yogendra Yadav and Jayati Ghosh have not been arraigned as accused in the supplementary chargesheet filed by Delhi Police."

The chargesheet against women’s collective Pinjra Tod members and JNU students Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal, and Gulfisha Fathima of Jamia Milia Islamia claimed that the students were tasked with making the anti-CAA protesters go to "any extreme", spreading discontent in the community by calling CAA/NRC anti-Muslim and organise demonstrations to “malign the image of the Government of India”.

The police used the interrogation of Fathima to pin the blame on Yechury, Yadav, Bhim Army chief Chandrasekhar Azad and Umar Khalid among others and referred to a public meeting on January 15.

"The crowd had started growing and according to the plan, big leaders and lawyers started coming in to provoke and mobilize this crowd, including Omar Khalid, Chancier Sekhar Ravan, Yogendar Yadav, Sitaram Yechury, and lawyer Mahmood Pracha, Chaudhary Matin (Ahmed) etc., the lawyer, Mahmood Pracha, said that the sitting in demonstration is your democratic right and the rest of the leaders filled the feeling of discontent in the community by calling CAA/NRC anti-Muslim," the chargesheet said.

The surfacing of the chargesheet in public domain came just two days ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Their identically-worded disclosure statements – mentioned in the charge sheet -- claim the two JNU students said they organised the Daryaganj protest in December and the Jafrafad protest on February 22 at the behest of Ghosh, Apoorvanand and Roy. "In the month of December after passing CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) Jaidi (sic) Ghosh, Prof Apurva Nand (sic), Rahul Roy had explained that we have to protest against CAA/ NRC for which we can go any extreme due to which we can through the Govt and Umar Khalid had also given some tips for doing protest against CAA/NRC," the chargesheet quoted Kalita as saying.