The Delhi Police Crime Branch on Tuesday filed two chargesheets in the Delhi riots case at Karkardooma Court. While one is related to rioting and a murder that took place at the Jafrabad metro station, the other is related to the Tahir Hussain case.
The chargesheet in the latter runs into 1,030 pages and the court will take cognisance of it on June 16. According to the chargesheet, former AAP councillor Hussain is the mastermind of the Delhi Riots. During the course of the investigation, the police found several suspicious transactions into the account of two companies that he owns, it said.
Hussain was arrested after absconding for 10 days. While the police searched for him, he kept appearing and giving interviews on television channels, said the chargesheet.
According to the chargesheet, Hussain in his interrogation admitted his involvement in the riot and also admitted that he was present at the terrace of his house at the time of incident.
Hussain's disclosure that he met Khalid Saifi (of United Against Hate) and Umar Khalid matched with the CDR location. "He disclosed that he met Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi at Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA protest where Umar Khalid told him to be prepared for something big/riots at the time of visit of US President and also said he and other PFI members will help him financially," said the chargesheet. The Delhi Riots coincided with US President Donald Trump's visit to India.
Khalid Saifi was arrested on February 26 in another riot case at Jagatpuri.
Tahir also disclosed that from the account of his two companies, he transferred around Rs1.10 crore to fake firms in the second week of January. He got the amount in cash through a chain of transactions and then started the preparation and distributed cash to anti-CAA protestors.
According to police, several CCTV cameras were installed at Hussain’s house and four DVRs were also recovered. All were submitted to the FSL but it says no recording from February 23 till February 28 could be retrieved, indicating either the CCTV was switched off or they were not in working condition. “There is no recording of persons visiting his office or house during the riots as if he didn’t want the events to be recorded,” the chargesheet said.
Hussain had his pistol released from Khajuri Khas police station just before the riots started on February 22.
During interrogation, he couldn’t give satisfactory replies to why he got his pistol released.
Police said that during remand, as per Hussain’s disclosure statement, a pistol with extra magazine and 24 live cartridges as well as a mobile phone were recovered from him on March 7. On March 11, 40 live cartridges and 22 empty cartridges were also recovered.
“He purchased 100 cartridges on his license but only 64 live cartridges and 22 empty cartridges were recovered. During interrogation, he was unable to give satisfactory reply for the remaining 14 live cartridges and use of 22 empty shells,” mentioned the investigating officer in the chargesheet.
Police recovered several empty crates, which hold glass bottles, and several crates containing glass stuffed with pieces of clothes and were used as Molotov cocktails. Police also recovered large amount of bricks and stones and three catapults from his house.
“Despite several rioters present in his house destroying the nearby houses and shops, his own house was untouched pointing towards a well hatched conspiracy,” police said.
On Hussain’s instance, two brothers Liyakat Ali and Riyasat Ali were arrested. During interrogation they disclosed their involvement in the riots and said they actively participated in the riots in and around the AAP councillor’s house. Riyasat actively participated in looting and burning of parking of a person identified as Pradeep, whose lot is adjacent to Hussain’s. The brothers divided the cash among themselves.
During the course of investigation, Tahir’s stepbrother Shah Alam was arrested along with other accused - Mohd Shadab, Mohd Abid and Rashid Saifi. They all disclosed that they actively participated in the riots on Hussain’s directions.
Pradeep’s parking was inspected by the FSL and crime team. Out of 44 vehicles, 14 were burnt and 18 were damaged. The photos and videos taken showed that while Pradeep’s parking was being destroyed by the rioters and while scores of rioters were present at Hussain’s place, the latter’s place remained untouched.
The police also obtained the bank account details of two companies of Hussain -- Show Effect Advertising Pvt Ltd and Essence Cellcom Pvt Ltd -- from HDFC Bank and analysed them to verify the disclosure statement of Hussain regarding organising and distributing cash for anti-CAA protests and the riots.
It shows six suspicious transactions from Essence Cellcom Pvt Ltd amounting to Rs 92 lakh to two accounts. His other company shows a transfer of Rs 20lakh on January 8. All these transactions are being investigated.
A total of three SITs have been constituted by the crime branch to investigate 59 cases which include murders and some important incidents of riots in February.
The second chargesheet relates to the Jafrabad rioting case, which happened near Jafrabad Metro station. One Aman had died due to a gunshot injury. A total of 35 empty cartridges of different bore were recovered from the spot.
Police arrested 12 persons in this case including Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita. Both belong to Pinjra Tod group. According to police, “they were actively involved in hatching the conspiracy to cause riots near Jafrabad metro station”.
“They were also part of a larger conspiracy and were found to be connected to the ‘India Against Hate’ group and Umar Khalid,” police said.
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