NEW DELHI: They received 16,000 PCR calls as the mayhem of the northeast Delhi riots unfolded. Violence broke out near the Jaffrabad metro station on February 23 last year and quickly spread to other areas. Before the communal frenzy abated around six days later, 53 people had lost their lives and over 600 were injured.
It was almost after three decades that Delhi Police was going to probe such a large number of casualties in communal violence. Its task was compounded by the fact that there was a lack of trust among many people and the apprehension that they would be targeted besides the fear of a backlash by police.
The probe began with a change in guard at the helm. With then police chief Amulya Patnaik on his way out, 1985 batch officer S N Shrivastava was brought back to the force from CRPF where he was on deputation. An officer with a clean track record, he had no time to settle down.
A couple of quick decisions were taken: the investigation was divided into two parts. One, to probe the violence and the other the conspiracy which led to the mayhem. The first part was investigated by two entities — the important ones, including the murders, were assigned to the Crime Branch SIT — further divided into three sections — and the cases of non-lethal violence were probed by the local police. The conspiracy case was probed by the Special Cell and was marred by controversy as it involved activists and former student leaders.
The Covid-19 outbreak and the lockdown were unprecedented developments but the investigations recovered pace quickly. As the year ended, Delhi Police had filed 755 FIRs.
Special camps were organised to facilitate registration of offences and the crime branch teams were deployed to assist the local police in ensuring registration of all prima facie verified complaints.
“Each and every PCR call received for the duration of the riots was accounted for. The number of cases registered are the highest ever in comparison to all previous riots reported in Delhi, even higher than those registered in 1984,” said the police commissioner. Investigators say the chief insisted on relying on technical evidence as much as possible.
“The biggest thrust was given to ‘identification’ so that as far as possible, every possible rioter could be identified. This was considered cardinal not only to ensure justice in the registered criminal cases but also to send out the message that cover of a mob would be of no help to anyone who harbours such criminal thoughts for the future,” he added.
From using artificial intelligence-based technology for the enhancement of CCTV images to scanning e-Vahan and driving licence databases, an operation was launched to identify the rioters.
So far, 1,825 accused have been arrested by the SITs, Special Cell and the North East district police. Two hundred and thirty one people were arrested on the basis of CCTV/mobile footage, of which 137 were identified through the facial recognition system matched with criminal records and 94 identified through driving licence photographs. “The arrests include that of 869 rioters belonging to the Hindu community and 956 of the Muslim community,” said Delhi Police spokesperson Chinmoy Biswal.
A year later, Delhi Police has filed chargesheets in 349 cases. In 102 of these, police have filed additional chargesheets with supplementary evidence. The courts have taken cognizance in 303 of these cases, and in many of them, ‘arguments on charge’ are proceeding on a day-to-day basis. Special public prosecutors were appointed and special courts constituted to expedite the legal process. “Legal advisors to assist the IOs were appointed and a dedicated team was formed to monitor the pairvi and trials,” said an official.
A mapping exercise showed large-scale violence in 11 police station areas of North East district. Maximum damage was noticed in Khajuri Khas, Bhajanpura, Karawal Nagar, Gokalpuri, Jafrabad and Dayalpur.
The chargesheets narrate what transpired between February 23-25. “The probe concluded that the riots took place as the culmination of various sustained sit-in and roadblock protests organised by — seemingly amorphous but bonded by undercurrents — anti-CAA groups,” the police spokesperson said.
According to the cops, the conspiracy probe has revealed that the conspirators were aware of the fact that any communal violence in Delhi during US President Donald Trump’s visit would immediately be picked up by international media and cause huge embarrassment to the central government. “They decided to resort to ’chakka jam’ at communally sensitive spots and attacked police personnel,” said the spokesperson.
The conspiracy chargesheet names former JNU students Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam and sacked AAP councillor Tahir Hussain as prime conspirators.
The cops have alleged that Khalid fostered nationwide alliances with ‘like-minded people’ soon after CAA received cabinet assent for being placed before Parliament. Police have accused him of mentoring formation of a group called Muslim Students of JNU through a protege, Sharjeel Imam, which played a major role in fomenting the riots. Khalid, cops allege, “remotely controlled” the happenings of February 23-24. Activists like Natasha Narwal, Devangna Kalita, Safoora Zargar and others were also caught.
Police, meanwhile, held 471 peace committee meetings.