Northeast Delhi riots: Court grants more time to police to complete probe against president of Jamia alumni association

A court here has granted one more month to Delhi police to complete its probe in a case against the president of Alumni Association of Jamia Millia Islamia who was arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with the riots in northeast Delhi in February.

The police told the court that Shifa-Ur-Rehman, being the president of AAJMI, collected huge funds from suspicious and unaccounted sources. “Even funds were received from persons living outside India,” it alleged.

Rehman, also a member of Jamia Coordination Committee, was booked for alleged involvement in the riots and was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police in April.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana on Friday allowed the special cell to complete its probe by August 24, after the agency sought more time claiming that the case was related to a “deep rooted and large scale conspiracy behind the riot incidents” and that its searches in other states were being hindered due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Also the probe has been "derailed" as activist Sharjeel Imam, who is presently lodged in Guwahati jail and whose name surfaced in the hatching of the conspiracy of this case, has tested positive for coronavirus, the police said.

The police said that the co-conspirators are yet to be arrested and the efforts were being made to identify and apprehend them.

“Their apprehension is crucial in finding out the missing links of the larger conspiracy.... In the present case, several layers of conspiracy have surfaced and to unearth the deep rooted conspiracy, interrogation of remaining is important for the purpose to investigate the present case from all possible angles.

“Search of other co-accused persons of this case is going on but due to lockdown Covid-19 period, process of searches in other states is hindered,” the police told the court.

The police said that voluminous data, in the form of CDRs, WhatsApp chats, Facebook posts, Twitter accounts and other social media, was collected during the probe.

“More than 1,700 call details records were sought from the service providers which are being thoroughly under examination. The analysis of such a huge technical record is going on and will take more time.

“The detailed analysis of that data is important for the purpose of filing a fair, effective and impartial charge sheet against the above named accused and his continued detention is needed to confront him with incriminating material so detected,” it said.

Police further said that “suspicious funds to the tune of Rs 7 to 8 lakh which the accused received through office receipts but not dopositod in the MAJMI bank account.”

“Moreover, bills were created to manage that suspicious fund. The persons concerned, related to these bills, are being examined but due to pandemic Covid-19, process of getting details and examination of witnesses is slow,” it said.

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Police told the court that apart from 23 protest sites reporter earlier, two more protest sites have also been identified which were brought up as a part of conspiracy for riots.

“All the sites were managed, controlled and organized by multiple layer teams in a well-structured and systematic manner. Each individual layer team has been assigned role to perform in furtherance of executing the conspiracy.

“The investigation regarding identification of the persons involved in this deep-rooted conspiracy and their role in furtherance of conspiracy is being minutely under investigation," it said.

During the course of investigation conducted so far, role of Sharjeel Imam has also surfaced in the hatching of the conspiracy of this case, police said.

It told the court that Imam has been declared coronavirus positive, which has also “derailed the investigation to a huge extent”.

In the FIR, police have claimed that the communal violence was a 'premeditated conspiracy' which was allegedly hatched by former JNU student leader Umar Khalid and two others.

Communal violence had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after clashes between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.