One of the key accused persons in the Jahangirpuri violence case was arrested by a special branch of Delhi Police from West Bengal on Thursday, ANI reported. The accused man, identified as SK Farid, was arrested from his aunt’s home in Dhalhara village of Purba Medinipur district in the state.
On Friday, he was produced before a Delhi court, which sent him to two-day police custody, reported ANI.
On April 16, eight police officials and a local resident were injured in communal violence that broke out when a Hanuman Jayanti procession passed a mosque in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area. The police said that Hindu and Muslim groups threw stones at each other.
A five-member team of the Delhi Police had gone to West Bengal looking for Farid.
“We came to know that his [Farid’s] family does not reside in Bengal,” said Inspector-in-charge of the Tamluk police station Arup Sarkar, ANI reported. “His original house was in Namalakhya [area] of Mahishadal [town] and 34 years ago, they [his family] left this place and started residing in Delhi.”
An unidentified police official told PTI that Farid was actively involved in the communal riots and played a major role in the Jahangirpuri incident.
“The accused had fled from the spot after the riots,” the official said. “Since then, he had been changing his locations and moving across West Bengal.”
Six cases have been registered against Farid since 2010 for robbery, snatching, burglary and some provisions under the Arms Act, 1959, the official said, adding that he is registered as a history-sheeter in Jahangirpuri.
On Thursday, the police had arrested two accused persons, Jafar and Babuddin, in connection with the case, ANI reported. Five other accused persons in the case – Ansar, Sonu alias Imam Sheikh, Salim, Ahir and Dilshad – have been charged under the stringent National Security Act.
The police have alleged that Ansar is the main conspirator behind the violence. Sonu was reportedly seen opening fire in a video of the Jahangirpuri clashes.
Three days after the communal clashes in Jahangirpuri, the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation razed the entrance gate of a local mosque and several shops, homes and other structures in the neighbourhood, mostly belonging to Muslims.
This was done despite the Supreme Court’s order to halt the drive. The demolitions finally stopped two hours later.
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