3 charge sheets filed, hearing on June 18
nNEW DELHI: The police on Thursday filed three more charge sheets in as many cases related to the February communal riots in a Delhi court, which posted the matter for June 18, when it is likely to take cognisance of the charge sheets.
Two cases were related to the alleged murder of two brothers – Hashim Ali and Amir Ali – and the third pertained to the murder of a restaurant waiter, Dilbar Negi, whose charred body with his arms severed was found in the eatery that was torched during the riots on February 26.
The charge sheet in Hashim’s murder case named nine people; 11 people were booked for his brother Amir’s murder. All 20 people have been charged with rioting, unlawful assembly and murder. A total of 12 people have been charged with allegedly murdered Negi. At least 53 people died and more than 400 were injured in the rioting in northeast Delhi in February that started as clashes between supporters and opponents of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA.
The charge sheets on Thursday
were filed before duty magistrate Richa Parihar.
None of the suspects arrested in the three cases have received bail, senior crime branch officers associated with the cases said.
The police, in a statement released on Thursday, said the rioting in the two cases involving the two brothers had taken place in Bhagirathi Vihar, Johripur area on February 25 and 26. Four bodies were recovered after the violence following which four separate first information reports were filed in the case, the statement said.
During the investigation, the police said, it was found that a Whatsapp group had been created on the intervening night that had 125 members.
The charge sheets were filed under sections 147 and 148 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code. The offences entail a maximum punishment of death. The police identified some of the active members of the Whatsapp group as Himanshu Thakur, Jatin Chaudhary, Prince Chaudhary and Ankit. The police also said they recovered a stolen phone belonging to one of the dead.