Updated: September 15, 2020 8:02:20 am
The Delhi Police Special Cell also questioned filmmakers Rahul Roy and Saba Dewan on Monday for about eight hours and told them to join the investigation in connection with the riots.
One day after JNU alumnus Umar Khalid was arrested, Senior Delhi police officers said on Monday they were going to file a sheet of charges of conspiracy in the North East Delhi riots of February 2020, identifying the traffic blockade by anti-CAA protesters as “the first indicator that there was a conspiracy due to which it all began ”.
Speaking at a webinar organized by the Delhi Police Officers Association, which was also attended by Commissioner SN Shrivastava, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwaha was quoted by PTI as saying that they had not yet found any evidence of the participation of pro-CAA-NRC protesters.
Kushwaha said: “When we started investigating the Delhi riots, we first looked at all the sites and found a common pattern that the traffic jam started at all sites simultaneously. It was the first indicator that there was a conspiracy by which it all began ”.
Questions having been raised about the lack of action against BJP leader Kapil Mishra for his alleged inflammatory speech a day before the unrest in the area, the DyCP was quoted as saying: “A narrative is being created that pro-CAA people / NRC were involved in it, but has not yet entered the investigation. “
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On Monday, Delhi police obtained 10-day custody of Khalid, who has been booked by UAPA, on charges stemming from his involvement in protests against the CAA. The Delhi Police Special Cell also interrogated filmmakers Rahul Roy and Saba Dewan on Monday for about eight hours and told them to join the investigation in connection with the riots.
Commenting on the criticism of Khalid’s arrest and the Delhi police investigation of the case, Shrivastava said in the webinar: “As we approach the end of this investigation, and as you know, Umar Khalid was arrested , so there are more screams especially in social networks, print media and also today television channels … (They) are trying to dull the investigation. You know that many of the people we investigate have a very good presence on social media. “
Shrivastava said Delhi police would file a charge sheet on Thursday in connection with the conspiracy case in the riots. “As it gets closer, there is more and more clamor and news… some attempt by some interest groups to discredit the Delhi police investigation. The Delhi Police have recorded 751 cases and have done so in a very fair and impartial manner and out of 751 cases, 340 have been resolved. The rest we don’t have many clues. “
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According to the PTI report, Kushwaha said that they had identified 25 protest sites, most of them in the trans-Yamuna area, and that the people who were part of them came from outside and were not local. “People kept going to the protest sites over and over and talking about the CAA-NRC so that more and more people would come there and it seemed like there was a CAA-NRC protest going on.
In seeking custody of Khalid for 10 days, Delhi police told additional sessions judge Amitabh Rawat on Monday that they wanted to confront him with 11 lakh page documents.
In granting the police request, ASJ Rawat observed: “Considering the nature of the case and the role of the defendant Umar Khalid that has emerged so far with regard to the conspiracy and participation in the anti-CAA / NPR / NRC protest, with the support from various radical groups / organizations… I consider it appropriate that, due to an effective and adequate investigation, this request for police custody be allowed ”.
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Special prosecutor Amit Prasad said that “from questioning of witnesses, it was revealed that the defendant Umar Khalid was coordinating the protest sites in Delhi with other radical groups,” and said that his custody was necessary to “unearth a deep-rooted conspiracy.”
Trideep Pais, who appeared on Khalid’s behalf, said police have not indicated a specific reason for the pre-trial detention. Noting that Khalid had been interrogated for five hours on July 31 and around 12 hours on the Sunday before his arrest, Pais said: “What is your case? This app doesn’t even say what they want to confront you with; they want to invent things as they go along. If it is a speech that provokes or not, is it not pertinent to say when he spoke, where he spoke? “
He also read a transcript of Khalid’s speech and said that he had not even been in Delhi during the riots. “(His) Amravati speech is about peace… Even I am against the CAA, that is not a crime. What is the crime Umar is said to have committed? It is public knowledge that people have been pressured to make statements in police custody. They say he protested. Everyone protested … This application is not worth even one day of custody. “
Prasad admitted that not much had been revealed, but said this was necessary under the UAPA, to maintain the “sanctity of the investigation.” –PTI inputs
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