The Delhi Police will hand over copies of its chargesheet that it filed in connection with the February violence to the 15 accused on September 21. A judge at the Karkardooma court on Thursday took cognisance of the mammoth chargesheet that has been filed in connection with the conspiracy angle that the police are probing.
All the 15 have been accused under sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act. The chargesheet, filed at Karkardooma court, is said to be over 17,000 pages. The police were on Wednesday seen carrying two steel trunks that had the document. As many as 2,600 pages noted details of the charges against the accused, while thousands of others were pages of annexures.
Suspended Aam Aadmi Party Councillor Tahir Hussain has been named in the chargesheet. Pinjra Tod members Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Millia Islamia students Asif Iqbal Tanha, Meeran Haider and Safoora Zargar, United Against Hate co-founder Khalid Saifi and former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan are among the others named by the police.
Meanwhile, Narwal, who was arrested for the protests at the Jaffrabad metro station, got bail, reported Hindustan Times.
The chargesheet, however, does not name Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam as accused in the Delhi riots case. Khalid and Sharjeel were arrested a few days ago. Their names will be in the supplementary chargesheet.
“These conspirators were in direct touch with the foot soldiers that resulted in the riots in North East Delhi in February,” the police had told the court on Wednesday. “Conspirators planned the riots while middle ring of leaders at the area level executed the plan through the foot soldiers.” The police also said that two WhatsApp groups were used to engineer the riots in Seelampur and Jafrabad areas that witnessed the worst violence.
The February violence in North East Delhi left over 50 people dead, hundreds injured and thousands displaced.
In multiple chargesheets relating to the riots, Delhi Police have claimed that the violence was part of a well-planned conspiracy to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and was hatched by those who organised the protests against the amended Citizenship Act. The Act introduced a religious test for Indian citizenship that critics said was discriminatory towards Muslims. The protests against the Act started in Delhi in mid-December and spread across the country.
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