Months after the deadly riots that broke out in the north-eastern parts of the national capital, the Delhi Police have released photographs of 20 people accused in the riots that took place in February this year. The riots had rocked areas like Seelampur, Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Shiv Vihar, Babarpur and Chand Bagh, and claimed at least 53 lives and left more than 700 injured.
Pictures of the accused will be put up at public places across Delhi and the police have also announced a reward for those who provide information about the accused in connection with the riots.
Northeast Delhi had witnessed communal violence from February 24-26 after clashes between Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 supporters and protesters went out of control. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police, in its recent charge sheet, has termed the incident as a 'terrorist activity'.
"In this case, the use of firearms, petrol bombs, acid attacks and deadly weapons on police officials on duty causing the death of a police personnel and grievous injuries and other injuries to a total 208 police personnel with the intention to overawe the state and force the central government to withdraw the CAA, NRC clearly falls in the definition of terrorist activity," police mentioned in the charge sheet.
Delhi Police have booked former JNU student leader Umar Khalid and JNU student Sharjeel Imam in a case linked to the alleged conspiracy in northeast Delhi. The police have said that the riots were a premeditated conspiracy allegedly hatched by Khalid and his aides.
In its supplementary charge sheet, police referred to Khalid as a "veteran of sedition" who was the "silent whisper" behind the first phase of the riots that started in December last year.
"For deeply communal Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam was the unapologetic floating froth of religious extremism who was to be used for executing the precipitation," police said in its charge sheet.
Delhi Police's first 17,500-page charge sheet includes names of Tahir Hussain, Safoora Zargar, Shafa-ur-Rehman, Ishrat Jahan, Shadab Ahamd, Talsim Ahmad and many more.