DJ Halli riots: NIA searches seven locations
BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday searched seven locations in the city in connection with last year’s DJ Halli and KG Halli police station attack cases (RC-34/2020/NIA/DLI and RC-35/2020/NIA/DLI).
During the searches at the premises of seven absconding charge-sheeted persons, the NIA seized various “incriminating documents and electronic devices,” said the agency’s spokesperson. The NIA had filed a 7,000-page chargesheet against 247 people in February, under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), in connection with the violence at KG Halli and DJ Halli on August 11, 2020.
The agency had mentioned that the conspirators were disgruntled over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). Out of the charge-sheeted, 47 are from the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The NIA had also stated that the attack on the police stations and other public property was “not spontaneous.”
The two cases were originally registered at the DJ Halli and KG Halli police stations. The NIA had re-registered the cases after a violent mob comprising of thousands of arsonists had vandalised the two stations, other private and public property, and torched the house of Congress MLA from Pulkeshinagar Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy in Kavalbyrasandra, after the latter’s nephew Naveen had allegedly posted inflammatory content on social media.
Scores of people, including 50 policemen, were injured in the violence. Three people were killed in police firing. The Central Crime Branch also investigated and charge-sheeted the case in October last year, naming former Congress mayor Sampath Raj. The latter was subsequently arrested.