The Delhi Police on Sunday filed a chargesheet before a city court against six people in connection with the alleged murder of an 85-year old woman during the violence in February, reported India Today. Akbari Begum had died of asphyxiation when her house in Bhajanpura area was torched.
The court of Metropolitan Magistrate Rakesh Kumar Rampuri will take up the chargesheet on June 21, reported NDTV.
The chargesheet accuses Arun Kumar, Varun Kumar, Vishal Singh, Ravi Kumar, Prakash Chand and Suraj Singh of rioting, unlawful assembly, murder, attempt to murder, dacoity with murder, mischief by fire, trespass, causing disappearance of evidence, disobedience of public servant’s order and common intention under the Indian Penal Code. The offences entail a maximum punishment of death penalty.
According to the chargesheet, when the mob torched Begum’s house on February 25, other members escaped to the roof but she could not. Her charred body was found on a folding bed, said the police. Begum’s son Saeed Salmani, who had a readymade garment shop on the ground floor of the building, had filed a first information report against the unknown arsonists.
All the accused are currently in judicial custody. They were arrested based on the videos that went viral on social media, statements of police officials who rescued the family members, statements of eyewitnesses and call records, said the chargesheet.
On February 25, when Salmani was out buying milk for his family, he received a call from his younger son. An armed mob of around 100 people had entered their lane in Gamri extension, around 1.5 km from Khajuri Khas in Delhi, and were setting shops and houses on fire. Their four-storey house, too, had been torched, and his family had sought refuge on the roof. The building itself was burnt, including the family’s tailoring workshops on the first two floors. Salmani claims that the mobs also looted him of Rs 8 lakh and all the family jewellery stored in the building.
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An 85-year-old woman was burnt to death in her home in Delhi’s Gamri extension
Gamri extension near Khajuri Khas is one of the many areas across North East Delhi that were rocked by violence after clashes broke out over the Citizenship Amendment Act.
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 violence of 1984. The Delhi Police crime branch has filed 13 chargesheets till now in cases related to the violence. It is investigating 59 cases related to murder and rioting, reported NDTV.
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