Another charge sheet filed in Delhi riots case

Delhi Police on Thursday filed a their charge sheet in a Delhi court in a murder case related to the north-east Delhi communal riots, which claimed 53 lives and left over 400 injured in February this year.

More than 750 cases have been registered in connection with the communal violence that broke out in different parts of north-east Delhi mainly on February 24 and 25. Nearly 100 charge sheets have already been filed in as many cases, so far.

In the earlier charge sheets, police have said that some student groups, activists, locals and a local politicians had conspired and mobilised people during anti- CAA protests to start the riots in North East Delhi. The student groups and activists have denied police’s allegations and said that police have launched a witch hunt against anti-CAA voices.

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On Thursday, the crime branch submitted its charge sheet in a Delhi court in the murder case of 22-year-old Monis, who was waylaid at Brijpuri road and beaten to death by a mob on February 25.

The mob had also set several private and public properties on fire. Investigators have arrested and charged seven people, including two who had stolen his cellphone after killing him, in the case, police said in the charge sheet.

“All seven of them have been charged for rioting, murder, arson and criminal conspiracy. Monis’s stolen phone was also recovered from two of them through technical investigation. Monis had died due to head and other injuries,” said a senior police officer associated with the probe, requesting anonymity.

The police have said in the charge sheet that as a consequence of clashes occurring on February 24, people both in favour of CAA, and against it, came out on the streets of Brijpuri.

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“...soon, slogans with intent to raise feelings on communal lines were also shouted. As the violent mob from both the community started to surge, soon the situation turned ugly and the mobs started to clash, pelting stones and using fire arms...,” the police have mentioned in the charge sheet.

Monis, a 22-year-old labourer by profession, was also passing through the Brijpuri Road towards his home, when he was caught and beaten to death. The seven persons arrested in the case are still in jail, police said.