The Delhi Police have named fifteen people as defendants in the charge sheet presented for the acts of violence that occurred in the national capital in February this year. The defendants have been named for orchestrating the riots that killed at least 53 people and injured hundreds.
The charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police Special Cell at Karkardooma Court is over 15,000 pages long. Packed in steel boxes, 2,692 pages of the comprehensive charge sheet specify the charges against the defendant, while the remaining pages include the annex.
In February, Delhi was rocked by communal unrest, the worst in at least three decades, with clashes between Hindu and Muslim groups in various parts of the city. Houses were burned and attacked, while vehicles were set on fire.
It all started as clashes between groups for and against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and then turned into community violence with rioters from both communities, who took to the streets armed with swords, stones and guns.
The fifteen individuals named on the charge sheet have been charged under sections of the Illegal Activities (Prevention) Act, the IPC and the Gun Act. For the investigation of the case, police said Wednesday that they are relying on WhatsApp chats and call logs. Twenty-five WhatsApp groups were created for each of the protest sites, police said.
“There was the impression that it was a protest against the CAA, but the conspirators were being guided through the protest sites,” police said.
The charge sheet released by the police on Wednesday does not list Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam as defendants in the Delhi riots case.
Umar and Sharjeel were arrested a few days ago and their names will be on the supplemental charge sheet.
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