New Delhi: Delhi Police on Thursday said they have identified 30 people involved in the violence that erupted during the municipal corporation’s demolition drive near the Faiz-e-Ilahi Mosque in the Turkman Gate area. The identification was made on the basis of CCTV footage, body-worn camera recordings of police personnel, and several viral videos from the area.
Police officials said a summons will soon be sent to Samajwadi Party MP Mohibbullah Nadvi to join the investigation, as he was allegedly present at the site before the violence broke out.
According to Delhi Police, senior officials had requested the MP to stay away from the immediate vicinity, but he continued to remain near the area before the incident.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police have till now arrested five people in connection with the stone-pelting incident during the demolition drive near the mosque. Several police teams have been formed, and raids are being conducted to take the identified individuals into custody.
The copy of the FIR, accessed by IANS, documents the sequence of events, right from the police barricading of the encroached land to the provocative slogans by a dozen of locals and then the hurling of stones at the policemen, even as the latter tried to reason with them that the demolition drive was limited to illegal constructions and the freeing of illegally occupied government land and there would be no harm to the adjoining mosque.
According to the FIR, the unrest occurred at 12.40 a.m. when the policemen started barricading the area. A group of 30-35 people gathered at the spot and started shouting slogans and hindering the cops from putting up a blockade.
The unruly elements were asked not to assemble at the spot as Section 163 (applied in cases of nuisance or apprehended danger) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was in place, and they should disperse quickly, but the crowd, instead of relenting, became more aggressive, escalated sloganeering, and started pelting stones at the police personnel.
Videos of stone pelting at police personnel and damaging barricades by the mob surfaced on social media, drawing anger from a section of netizens over the direct assault on the policemen on duty.
“One of the protesters snatched the loudhailer and broke it,” says the complainant in the FIR.
“They not only obstructed and attacked the policemen on duty but also broke the loudspeaker and barricades and attacked policemen with stones,” it added.
A couple of policemen, including the SHO, were injured in the attack and were subsequently admitted to LNJP hospital.
It was after the additional forces were called in that the violent protesters were pushed back, and illegal structures surrounding the religious structure were razed.
The FIR has been registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 221 (obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from the discharge of his duty), 121 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty), 191 (rioting), 223(A) (disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant), and 3(5) (joint liability) and provisions of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
The five accused named in the FIR have been identified as Mohd Shahawaz, Mohd Aarib, Mohd Kasif, Mohd Adnan, and Mohd Kaif—all said to be residents of the Chandni Mahal area.
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File Photo: IANS
