Delhi riots: 'Hero cop' who braved a mob to save lives
Mr Jadaun said the rioters he saw had come prepared for arson.
"The area had many shops with stocks of bamboo. A fire would have engulfed the whole area and had that been allowed to happen, the death toll in Delhi would have been much higher."
But, Mr Jadaun is uncomfortable about being hailed as a hero.
"I am not a hero. I have taken oath to protect any Indian in danger. I was just doing my duty because I wasn't willing to let people die under my watch. We were in a position to intervene and we did that," he added.
Similar small acts of heroism - of Hindus and Muslims standing together - have also begun to emerge.
Subhash Sharma, from Ashok Nagar, one of the worst- affected areas, described how he ran to help after mobs set a mosque on fire.
"There were thousands of people in the mob and there were only a handful in the mosque. As soon as I saw it set on fire, I switched on the water pump in my house and ran there with a hose," Mr Sharma told BBC Hindi.
Murtaza, a man from the same neighbourhood, said that he wanted to flee the area, but his Hindu neighbours told him not to leave.
"They assured us they would not let anybody harm us," he said.
BBC Hindi's Faisal Mohammed also spoke to two neighbours - a Hindu and a Muslim - from the Vijay park area in Maujpur, one of the areas worst-affected by the violence.
The two described how they rallied their neighbours to chase away a mob that had been burning vehicles and shattering windows in the vicinity.
"The next day we shut the main road and people from the neighbourhood gathered together and sat outside," one of the men, Jamaluddin Saifi, said.
Residents there also set up a "peace committee" - made up of both Hindus and Muslims - who went from house to house telling people not to believe rumours and to keep children inside.
As the Indian capital struggles to pick up the pieces, it is these stories that are giving residents some hope that life can eventually go back to normal. (Courtesy BBC)