The Delhi Police on Tuesday, June 2, filed a charge sheet against the suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain and 14 others in a Karkardooma court in connection with the Northeast Delhi riots that took place in February.
The 1,030-page charge sheet stated that Hussain spent a substantial amount of Rs 1.30 crore in organising the violence in the area, calling him the mastermind behind the Chand Bagh and Jaffrabad riots.
‘This case was registered for the riots that took place at about 2:15 pm on February 24 outside Tahir Hussain’s house in Khajuri Khas, Delhi. 15 persons, including Tahir Hussain, have been arrested in this case,’ police said.
According to the police investigation, there was a ‘deep-rooted conspiracy’ behind instigating the communal violence and Hussain’s younger brother, Shah Alam was also arrested.
The document also said that Hussain had met Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi and others who had participated in the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) ahead of the violence.
However, the purpose of the meeting is yet to be ascertained.
‘Recovery of crates containing glass bottles having some liquid filled in them and their necks stuffed with pieces of cloth, which were used/to be used as Molotov cocktails, large number of bricks and stone pieces and three catapults from the house of accused Tahir Hussain further point towards the conspiracy and the extent of preparation for causing riots in the area,’ the statement said.
The police, in the charge sheet, said that the source of the petrol bombs found on the terrace of Tahir Hussain’s residence has not been discovered yet, although it added that he had 100 live ammunition, of which 64 ammunition and 22 shells have been recovered.
Hussain has not answered where the 22 shells were used or where the 14 other ammunitions are, it said.
Police added that on February 22, Tahir got his pistol released from the Khajuri Khas police station which was just a day before the violent clashes in the national capital.
The charge sheet has been filed before the court and will be taken up for consideration on June 16.
Deccan Herald reported Tahir Hussain’s lawyer saying that the police have ‘twisted or manipulated’ the answers given by the AAP councillor.
According to the lawyer, Hussain is being targeted and being falsely implicated in a case of communal violence in northeast Delhi.
‘No recovery has been affected from him during the police custody or later on. However, certain things have been planted and manipulated against him. Hussain himself is a victim rather than an accused as is being allegedly portrayed by the police who have by far produced no single piece of evidence to prove that he had a role to play in the alleged crime against him except the oral allegations,’ said Advocate Javed Ali.
In February, earlier this year, violent clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi between the groups supporting and opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The clashes resulted in the deaths of at least 53 people.
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