Delhi riots were planned by Umar Khalid, associates: Cops

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police special cell on Tuesday informed a city court that the north-east Delhi riots were ‘pre-planned’ and ‘hatched’ by Umar Khalid, a former student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, and associates. The Delhi Police made the submission while seeking the extension of remand of alleged accused persons Gulfisha Khatoon, Meeran Haider, Safoora Zargar and three others for their role in the riots.

The court extended Safoora and Meeran’s judicial custody till June 25, while it will hear the case for the custody of the rest on other dates.

In its application, the police quoted an FIR number 59, registered by a crime branch officer, in which he claimed to have received ‘source information’ that the communal riots in Delhi during February 23-26 were planned by Khalid and his associates. The case was transferred to the special cell. However, the police have neither identified the source nor presented the evidence based on which they have accused Khalid of the conspiracy in their submissions. The Delhi Police has not arrested Khalid.

SC SEEKS RESPONSE ON SHARJEEL IMAM

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the response of Assam, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh in a plea by JNU student Sharjeel Imam seeking clubbing of FIRS filed against him in those states for offences of sedition and hate speech. The states have been given two weeks to file their response to the plea.