87 people shot in communal riots, 20 of them died: Probe
AFTERMATH Police say no fresh deaths were reported on Saturday, but a shop was set on fire; at least 885 people have been arrested or detained in connection with violence
NEW DELHI: At least 87 people suffered gunshot wounds in the communal riots that tore through north-east Delhi this week. Of these, at least 20 — including a policeman — succumbed to bullet injuries, investigators said.
Police said no fresh deaths were reported on Saturday from riot-affected areas but a shop was set on fire in the Welcome neighbourhood.
At least 42 people have been killed so far, while more than 450 people have been injured in the communal riots that ravaged the capital from February 23 to 25. Delhi Police had registered 203 cases till Saturday evening.
Of the 203 cases, 24 were of murder, and 36 others were under various sections of the Arms Act.
The remaining cases were of rioting, attacking police personnel, arson and damaging properties, the police said.
Meanwhile, the police said they had registered separate cases against 13 social media account holders on various platforms — Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram — for posting provocative contents having potential to trigger communal violence. Police said many such accounts and web links involved in circulation of unlawful and offensive contents were either suspended or their “objectionable” contents were removed.
Two special investigation teams (SITS) probing the communal violence had arrested 39 people, some of them having a criminal background. The police seized 39 firearms, 36 of which were country-made pistols, after raids in various parts of Delhi and adjoining states. 46 cartridges were recovered from the arrested suspects, who, police say, were involved in the communal clashes and were
identified with the help of video clips.
The arrest of people with criminal history and the fact that illegal firearms were used, apart from petrol bombs and