NEW DELHI: Delhi Police said on Tuesday said 10 men had been
arrested
in connection with the violence during protests in
Jamia
Nagar on Sunday, some of them with criminal antecedents. Police also
named
seven
others
in the
FIR
, among them a former Congress legislator and the leader of Aam Aadmi Party’s student wing. Kumar Gyanesh, additional DCP (South-East) under whose jurisdiction Jamia Millia Islamia fell, was transferred on Monday night, though the brass insisted it was a routine transfer.
Delhi Police presented the 10 arrested men before a magistrate, but did not seek their custody for interrogation. The arrested were, therefore, remanded in judicial custody till December 31.
Those produced in court were Mohammed Haneef alias Raja, who drives a delivery auto and lives in Noor Nagar; Sameer Ahmed, mechanic from Abu Fazal Enclave; Dilshad alias Aman, a daily wager who lives in Okhla Vihar; Mohammed Danish, a resident of Abu Fazal Enclave who works as a solar panel fitter; Danish alias Jafar, a plumber from Jamia Azeem Dairy; and vegetable vendor Sharif Taj Mohammed from Jamia Azeem Dairy. All men are between 20 and 24 years of age.
Police later produced four others in court, having arrested them from Indira Gandhi Camp in Taimur Nagar. Mohammad Anal Hussain and Yunus Khan both have a criminal history, having been indicted earlier in cases of theft and causing grievous hurt. The other two were Jumman, a meat shop employee, and Anwar Kaala, a garbage collector, who too, police informed the magisterial court, had cases pending against them.
Advocate Khalil Ansari, who appeared for Hanif, and Mohammed Danish for Sameer and Dilshad, told the court that the men had been arrested simply to show that “something is being done” in the rioting case. When the court inquired who the witnesses were, the investigating officer replied, “Police”.
The counsels argued that the cops had identified the arrested men on the basis of the footage of the protests. “But not even in a single briefing have police released the footage. They didn't burn buses. In fact, one person in plainclothes and police jacket is seen pouring some liquid inside the bus. Everything is on social media,” submitted Ansari.
Most of the arrested pleaded they were implicated in the case. Plumber Zafar said police insisted he was a “student” when booking him. Similarly, Sharif Mohammed claimed to have been smoking a bidi outside his house when he was picked up. “Is smoking a crime?” he asked.
Meanwhile, police named local politicians Ashu Khan, Mustafa and Haider and former Congress MLA from Okhla Asif Khan in its FIR at Jamia Nagar. Student leaders Chandan Kumar (AISA) and Kasim Usmani (CYSS) and Asif Tanha of the Students’ Islamic Organisation were also cited for “leading the protesters”. Asif Khan and Ashu Khan were charged with provoking the protestors and rallying the students with slogans.
In the FIR, the Jamia Nagar station house officer said he was deployed on Mohammad Ali Jauhar Marg on Sunday, given the demonstrations against CAA and NRC since Friday. Around 3pm that day, the protestors, including the seven named, marched from Jamia towards Mathura Road and soon after the cops learnt that the some DTC buses had been set on fire.
When a police booth at Sarai Jullena was vandalised, officers repeatedly told the crowd to maintain peace, but according to the FIR, they approached Jamia’s gates number 4, 7 and 8 and indulged in stone pelting. To control the violence, police fired 52 teargas shells at the protestors. The cops said they entered the campus to identify the anti-social elements and separate them from the students.
The FIR says police later recovered bottles, wet blankets to counter teargas, petrol bombs and bags filled with stones, all indicating the riots might have been planned in advance.
Police said efforts were being made to recover a gun that was used during the protests, evidenced by the retrieval of a spent 7.62mm bore cartridge from a roadside flower pot. They have also sought the medical reports of two protesters, who allegedly suffered gunshot injuries.
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