Rumours about Kapil Mishra triggered Delhi riots: Chargesheet

A witness in the murder case of policeman Ratan Lal during the Delhi riots, has said that the violence was triggered due to rumours about supporters of BJP leader Kapil Mishra setting fire to a pandal of anti-CAA protesters, said the chargesheet filed by Delhi Police in the case.

Ratan Lal, a head constable with Delhi Police had died after being attacked by a mob near Dayalpur police station, close to the Jaffrabad and Chand Bagh localities of north-east Delhi, where the violence raged for days together.

According to reports, Najam ul Hasan, the witness in his statement has said although he “did not see” the incident on February 24, he had heard people shouting about it.

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Hasan is one of the key witnesses – 164 including 76 policemen and seven local residents – in the chargesheet, who has claimed to have complete knowledge of the “conspiracy and planning” behind the protests at Chand Bagh.

“There were rumours that an anti-CAA protest site at Jaffrabad had been set on fire by Kapil Mishra’s men, but we didn’t see anything like that happen,” NDTV quoted police as saying on basis of Hasan’s statement.

Mishra during a February 23 rally in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) had  warned Delhi police of dire consequences if the roads in Jaffrabad and Chand Bagh, the main centres of anti-CAA protests in north-east Delhi, were not opened in three days. His statement was alleged to have sparked the riots in the area, leading to the death of more than 50 people.