Delhi Police, in a supplementary chargesheet in a north-east Delhi riots case, described former JNU student Umar Khalid as “a veteran of sedition” who “was the ‘silent whisper’ behind the first phase of the riots that took place in December 2019”.
The supplementary chargesheet was filed against Umar, former JNU student Sharjeel Imam and one Faizan Khan under offences related to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
This brought the total number of persons charged under the anti-terror law in connection with the north-east Delhi riots to 18.
The Delhi police said the “role of Umar Khalid in the present conspiracy finds first tangible manifestation on December 5, 2019, when on his direction, his disciple Sharjeel Imam had constituted MSJ (Muslim Students of JNU)”. “The constitution of MSJ, its association with SOJ (Students of Jamia) and whatever happened thereafter in Jamia Milia and in select locations of North-East District in December 2019 bears the unmistakable hallmark of a maturing Umar Khalid, learning from his experiences of 2016 and aiming towards engineering large scale communal riots, which was, however, to wait for another two months [sic],” the Delhi police said.
“The connectivity of Umar Khalid with the wider kaleidoscope of activists, accused and co-conspirators... points to his centrality in the entire saga of events,” the police stated. The Delhi police also said Umar “was the convergence point of twin lines of Pan-Islamica and Ultra-Left anarchism which had incubated, nurtured and propagated the common conspiracy, all squarely aimed at violent subjugation of the government established by law”. “Umar Khalid had understood that the acceptance of Radical Islamist Groups and their political fronts could not exceed beyond the limits they had already achieved since their presence on the Indian landscape,” the police added.
A conspiracy
It said that on the night of February 22, 2020, “in pursuance and furtherance of common conspiracy, on the direction of Umar Khalid and other key executors of the conspiracy, under the garb of women, led protest at 27/7 sit-in protest site near Madina Masjid, Seelampur, moved and occupied 66 Foota Road at Jafrabad metro station, completely blocking traffic, i.e. Chakka Jaam”.
The Delhi police further said that “Sharjeel Imam also conspired with other conspirators to threaten the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India through ideas and speeches which he delivered from December 13 last year and continued till January 23 this year”.
“Accused Sharjeel Imam, in collusion with other conspirators, disrupted essential supplies and services for general public in Shaheen Bagh and instigated others to adopt his model of disruptive Chakka Jaam,” the Delhi police said. “On January 2, 2020, Sharjeel Imam formally withdrew from Shaheen Bagh protest under the pretext of a classical Maoist strategy i.e. keep the movement mass-based and desire individualism [sic],” the police said.
“After having exited Shaheen Bagh and up to this date, Sharjeel Imam was not only spewing communal and seditious venom in cities and towns in the Hindi heartland of north India but was also visiting protest sites, arranging manpower and supervising the spread of this anti-national rot across Delhi,” the Delhi police said..