Delhi riots: Special Cell files charge sheet against 15 accused for hatching conspiracy

File pic: Zee News

New Delhi: The Special Cell of Delhi Police on Wednesday (September 16) filed a charge sheet in Karkardooma Court against 15 accused in connection with the conspiracy of Delhi riots. All these accused not only gave inflammatory speeches during the protests against the new citizenship law that started in the month of December 2019 but also conspired to flare up the communal riots in February this year.

The charge sheet was filed in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Abitabh Rawat. The Special Cell, which has named a total of 15 people in its charge sheet, has booked them under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) along with other sections. The charge sheet related to the Delhi riot is about 20 thousand pages.

The charge sheet includes the name of the following persons:

1- Tahir Hussain
2- Muhammad Parvez Ahmed
3- Muhammad Ilyas
4- Saifi Khalid
5- Ishrat Jahan
6- Miran Haider
7- Safoora Jargar
8- Asif Iqbal Tanha
9- Shadab Ahmed
10- Natasha Narwal
11- Devangana Kalita
12- Taslim Ahmed
13- Salim Malik
14- Muhammad Salim Khan
15- Athar Khan

Notably, the charge sheet filed today does not have the names of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam as accused. As they were arrested a few days ago, their names are expected to be in the supplementary charge sheet.

The Special Cell's investigation has revealed that several groups had joined hands during the Anti-CAA protests. These groups include Pinjra Tod, PFI, Jamia Coordination Committee, United Against Hate, former students of Jamia university, and students of JNU and Jamia University

Umar Khalid and Sharjil Imam gave inflammatory speeches in Delhi and other parts of the country. Umar Khalid's speech in Maharashtra's Aurangabad had referred to the visit of US President Donald Trump to India. 

The money to fund the anti-CAA protests came from the PFI as well as abroad. Weapons were also purchased from that money. The Special Cell has found the Delhi riots to be a well-planned conspiracy.

Earlier on Monday, Delhi's Karkardooma court granted 10-day custody of former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid to the Special Cell of Delhi Police, which reportedly said that it wants to confront Khalid with over 11 lakh pages of documents in connection with Delhi riots.

On February 24 this year, communal clashes broke out in northeast Delhi after clashes between supporters of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and those against the legislation spiraled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.