PFI member held for alleged role in violence, protests
NEW DELHI: The Delhi police on Monday said they have arrested a member of the Popular Front of India (PFI) in connection with a case of rioting and criminal conspiracy pertaining to last month’s communal violence in north-east Delhi that has claimed 53 people and left more than 400 others injured. His alleged role in funding the riots and the ongoing agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Shaheen Bagh is being also probed, officers privy to the case said.
Deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said that Mohammad Danish,33, has been arrested by the special cell but refused to detail Danish’s role in the riots and anti-CAA protests.
A special cell officer, who asked not to be named, said Danish was picked up from his home in east Delhi’s Trilokpuri on Sunday night. He was questioned and later arrested on Monday. Danish was part of the counter-intelligence wing of the PFI, the officer claimed.
“There is evidence that suggests that Danish was playing a key role in funding the northeast Delhi riots and the anti-CAA protests. It has also been found that he had distributed anti-CAA posters and was spreading propaganda with intent to instigate people of his community against the government and other communities,” the officer said.
Danish’s arrest came a day after the special cell arrested a Kashmiri couple – Jahanzaib Sami,36, and his 39-year-old wife Hina Bashir Beigh – for alleged links with the Islamic StateKhorasan Province (ISKP), instigating protests against the CAA and spreading hatred against India and between communities in the country.
The investigators said they are also probing if Danish has any links with the Kashmiri couple.
PFI general secretary Anis Ahmed said the allegations of the organisation’s links to communal violence in Delhi are “baseless”. “Popular Front rejects the allegation as baseless propaganda and would like to make it clear that the organisation is unnecessarily being dragged into the incidents in Delhi. Delhi police are using the same tactic that has been tried and failed by police in Sangh Parivar ruled states such as Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh,” a statement issued by the PFI said.
“…it seems that Delhi Police, after their massive failure to prevent large scale violence against Muslim community in the capital city by Sangh Parivar and bring the cuprites to justice, are in search for a scapegoat to put all the blame and wash their hands off. While Hindutva leaders who incited violence roam free enjoying Y-category protection,
Delhi police are busy making arbitrary arrests and hunting after innocents,” the statement said.
Danish has been pursuing a law degree from an institute in Ghaziabad. His family members confirmed that he was a social activist and a PFI volunteer but refuted the allegations that he was involved in the riots or was part of any “conspiracy” behind the communal violence.