Riots that broke in North East Delhi over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has killed 42 people (as of 29th February) with the health department confirming four more deaths on 28th February. Among the deads are, an Intelligence Bureau jawan and a Delhi Police head constable.
According to the CMO of GTB Hospital, the hospital is under seeing 239 patients, including a new admission. The present number of admitted patients is 45, out of which two are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Shops were seen opening on 27th February in some riot-hit areas of North East Delhi as normalcy limped back.
Delhi Police has transferred the North East Delhi riots probe to the Crime Branch, and the cases will now be probed by two Special Investigation Teams (SITs).
A total of 123 FIRs have been registered and around 623 people have been either arrested or detained so far in connection with the North East Delhi communal violence.
However, mystery looms over the identity and whereabouts of the maroon t-shirt-clad shooter who brazenly aimed at a police constable and opened fire in the Jaffrabad-Maujpur area on 23rd February.
Some bodies, including that of the IB staffer, were fished out of drains in different parts of North East Delhi. Delhi Police has managed to identify only 26 of the 42 dead, while the identity of the rest is yet to be ascertained.
The police on Friday also identified the cause of death of 35 victims of the communal violence in North East Delhi. Twenty-two died due to fatal injuries from stone-pelting or physical assault, while 13 due to gunshot injuries.
Delhi Police spokesperson on 28th February said that a total of 123 FIRs have been registered and around 623 people have been either arrested or detained so far in connection with the North East Delhi violence over CAA.
Delhi Police spokesperson Mandeep Singh Randhawa also said that Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) teams have been called in and the crime scenes are being revisited. Of the total cases, 25 cases have been registered under the Arms Act, police said.
“The investigation is going on and we have called FSL teams. We are revisiting the scene of the crime. We are collecting footage and evidence. We have controlled the situation and it is heading towards normalcy. The deployment (of force) will remain in the areas along with senior officers. We have conducted around 400 meetings with aman (peace) committees,” Randhawa said.
A forensic team and a team of the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police reached the house of suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain to probe his role in the North East Delhi and his involvement in the killing of the 26-year-old IB staffer whose body was recovered from a drain near his house.
According to sources, the forensic team has recovered crucial evidence in connection with IB staffer’s murder. A team of forensic personnel also visited the spot where his body was recovered from and collected evidence.
Delhi Police had booked Tahir Hussain for murder based on a complaint filed by family members of the IB staffer. His family has accused Tahir Hussain of his murder.
Tahir Hussain is in the eye of a major controversy because of a viral video that shows tens of people on his rooftop hurling stones and petrol bombs during the riots. Tahir Hussain has however claimed innocence saying he called the police for help as people forcefully started entering his house.
Fresh queries have cropped about the identity and whereabouts of a maroon t-shirt-clad man whose photos and videos with a gun had gone viral on social media.
Visuals from the riots show this man in maroon t-shirt and jeans, firing eight shots at a police constable, who stared him down and forced him to back off.
Earlier, it was reported that the man was identified as Shahrukh. It was said that he has been arrested. But now, contradictory reports are emerging about his identity and his arrest. Police sources have said that they were able to ascertain his identification from neighbours and friends. But the cops have refused to divulge any the details, including his whereabouts, to the media.
The man who fired eight rounds at cops on Monday during Delhi violence is missing.
Police investigation says that he was carrying a country-made pistol from which he fired at least eight shots. Police say that he also arranged illegal weapons for other protesters, which were used in the N-E Delhi clashes that has claimed lives 42 people and injured hundreds.
Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Friday announced an inquiry into the sexual crimes against women which might have taken place during the riots in Delhi’s North East district earlier this week.
The commission has asked Delhi Police to submit a report on the sexual crimes cases reported during or after the riots in the affected areas by March 4. The DCW has said that it will monitor each complaint and provide the victims with proper help and support.
This comes after DCW chief Swati Maliwal visited riot-affected areas along with members of the commission in northeast Delhi and interacted with hundreds of women, including a woman who was assaulted despite being nine months pregnant. Her house was also set on fire. Later, the woman gave birth to a baby boy at Al Hind hospital.
During the interaction, many women and girls had complained of lackadaisical approach of the Delhi Police during the riots.
The team, during its ground visit, saw several women being brought in at a local hospital in Mustafabad after having been injured in the riots.
The commission has specifically inquired about the death of women in the riots and whether any sexual crimes were perpetrated upon women.
