NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Sunday granted sanction for the prosecution of six persons accused in a case of 2020 Delhi riots in which a man was murdered in the frenzy. The incident was reported on February 24 of the year where a 25-year-old man, identified as Shahid, died due to a gunshot injury in Mustafabad area. The case was lodged on March 2 at Dayal Pur Police Station.
In a statement issued, the Rajniwas said that during the investigation, it emerged that a deep-rooted conspiracy was hatched under the garb of democratic protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill which led to the communal riots in the North-East District of Delhi.
All the accused–Mohd Firoz, Chand Mohd, Rais Khan, Md Junaid, Irshad and Akil Ahmed – have been granted prosecution sanction for the commission of offences punishable under section 153 A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which penalises promoting “enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony,” it added.
According to the L-G House the six arrested accused disclosed that they were involved in riots. They also admitted of forcefully entering a building of Saptarishi Ispat and Alloys Pvt Ltd and looting the office of the firm with other rioters.
The victim had sustained the gunshot injury at the rooftop of the company located at the service road near 25 Foota Chand Bagh, main Wazirabad Road Delhi near Chand Bagh Mazar during the incident of a communal riot which took place on February 24, 2020.
The investigation of the case was transferred to the Crime Branch which examined the witnesses and analyzed the evidence collected, including the viral video on social media of a TV Channel.
Based on the investigations, the L-G House claimed that the cases occurred in the wake of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill revealed that quite sometime prior to it, the conspirators were circulating by way of distributing pamphlets and canvassing in the Muslim-dominated areas that the Centre intended to take away the citizenship of Muslims and further would be put in the detention camp.