Second Whatsapp group emerges with disclosure of two more murders
NEW DELHI: After details of the "Kattar Hindut Ekta" Whatsapp group were cited by the Delhi Police to show evidence of a Hindu mob conspiring and admitting to murdering Muslims during the north-east Delhi riots, a second similar Whatsapp group by the name of "Hindu EKTA group" has emerged from the trove of evidence gathered by the Delhi Police in one of the cases related to the deadly riots, which also contains disclosures of at least two more murders of Muslims in the Shiv Vihar area. According to evidentiary documents accessed by Millennium Post, several members who were added to the first Whatsapp group were also added to this group and have told the Delhi Police that this group too had members posting messages inciting riots, according to the statements recorded under Section 161 of the CRPC. According to the transcripts of the "Hindu EKTA group", on February 28, one member of this group posted at 12:49 am, "Bhaiyo abhi baat hui hai. Mere chacha ki E block me shiv vihar me 2 mullo ko mar diya hai Mohol bigad rha hai alert ho jao (Brother, I have just had a word. Two Muslims have been killed in my uncle's area of E Block in Shiv Vihar. The situation is worsening please be alert)."
As reported earlier by this newspaper, messages in the "Kattar Hindut Ekta" group had disclosures of as many as 19 murders of Muslims in a little over 24 hours. While the first group had brazen messages and videos of mosques and shops being set on fire and disclosures of several murders, this group had members who continuously checked other members and kept asking them not to post any videos or anything other than "kam ki baat (Messages related to work)". Significantly, this group chat also contains messages that may suggest that people from outside the city were brought in to inflict violence upon Muslims and take care of the "safety of Hindu brothers". On February 26, around 10:29 pm, a person referred to as "Chotu Pal chowk" by one of the witnesses said, "Bhai ak no deta hu aap ko agar jise lage hamare bande kamjor padte h to es no pe call karna (Brother, I'm sending a number. If you feel that we are falling short of men, call on this number)."
Following this message, the person goes on to say, "Dlf ka bhai satis kasana h. Usne apne gaao se bande bulaye h (It's Satis Kasana from DLF. He has brought men over from his village)" and sent a .vcf file of one "Kasna", which stores contact information of a person or business. Meanwhile, another member of the group had said some Muslims had entered one of his lanes, to which "Chotu" said, "Es bhai ko btana kha bhejne h (Tell him where to send the men)" but also added, "Or jab pakki khabar ho tabhi call karna (And call only when you have confirmed news)."
The documents, which are part of the chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police in the murder case of brothers Hashim
Ali and Aamir Khan, also contain a statement from an investigating officer, who said that both "Kattar Hindut Ekta" and "Hindu EKTA group" had several messages from members about the riots and several messages and posts inciting riots, "in the form of text chat, voice chat and video chat".
While the transcripts of chats from the second Whatsapp group are also part of the evidence submitted by the Delhi Police to the court, it does not find a mention in column 16 of the chargesheet that deals with "brief facts of the case". There is at least one prominent mention of BJP leader Kapil Mishra and his speeches in this group chat as well and one member shares what appears to be a forwarded message on March 1 which essentially defends Mishra with "#I-STAND-WITH-KAPILMISHRA".
As for the three witnesses
listed by the Delhi Police, who disclose details of the "Hindu EKTA group" chat, their statements to the Crime Branch show that at least two of them were added to both the group chats — "Kattar Hindut Ekta" and "Hindu EKTA group", and one other was part of the former. However, all three have maintained that they did not
leave their homes during the riots as their parents did not allow them to go out. One of them added that he had left the home a few times but "only to get milk".
According to statements given by two of these witnesses, the "Hindu EKTA group" was created on December 20 last year. The Delhi Police have appended transcripts of the chat beginning from the night of
February 25. These transcripts show that the name of the group in February was "Hindu ekta jindabad".this was changed by one member to "Hindu Unity" on February 28 around 8:40 pm and within minutes another member had changed the group name to "Hindu EKTA group". While the Crime Branch have already disclosed in multiple chargesheet that the creator of "Kattar Hindut Ekta" had not been traced despite "sincere efforts"; police have not mentioned anything about the creator of the "Hindu EKTA group" in the chargesheet filed on June 5. Interestingly, both witnesses who turned over the chat transcripts to the police have disclosed the phone number with which the group was created in December last year.