The Delhi Police on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against suspended Aam Aadmi Party MLA and 14 others in connection with the large-scale communal violence that took place in the Capital in February, PTI reported. The police alleged that Hussain had spent Rs 1.10 crore to fund protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the clashes that followed.
In a 1,030-page-long chargesheet, the police said that Hussian had met former Jawaharlal Nehru University student Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi from non-profit platform United Against Hate, a month before the clashes in North East Delhi. Khalid was booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in April in a case related to the February violence.
The police added that Saifi had asked Hussain to prepare for “something big” at the time of United States President Donald Trump’s visit to Delhi and also given him some money. “Hussain claimed Saifi gave him money for preparations and he, from the account of companies owned by him, transferred Rs 1.10 crore to fake companies in the second week of January,” the chargesheet read, according to The Indian Express. “He later got that amount in cash through a chain of transactions and started his preparations. He also distributed cash to anti-CAA protesters.”
Hussain also got his licenced pistol released from the Khajuri Khas police station after being made aware that some people were organising pro-CAA demonstrations, the chargesheet read. The police claimed he did this “to teach them a lesson”.
The police have filed another chargesheet in connection with the clashes between people protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act and those in favour of it, in North East Delhi’s Jafrabad on the night of February 23.
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In April, the Delhi Police had booked Hussain under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in a case related to the communal violence. Hussain was also charged with murder, rioting and arson. He is an accused in the alleged murder of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma, whose body was found in a drain in Chand Bagh locality. The AAP had first defended Hussain but later suspended him.
In the chargesheet, the police said that Sharma was stabbed 51 times and was “specifically targeted” by the mob that Hussain had allegedly provoked. The police said there was “deep-rooted conspiracy” behind the riots and Sharma’s murder, reported NDTV.
Clashes had broken out between supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it in North East Delhi in February, killing 53 people and injuring hundreds. The violence was the worst Delhi saw since the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
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