The Delhi Police said on Sunday that the five men arrested in connection with the four alleged attacks on African nationals had claimed that the incidents were not linked.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Nupur Prasad said the four incidents, which happened in the same area in a short span of time, were independent cases of scuffle with different people accused in each case.
“These incidents were not coordinated or involved large armed groups,” said Ms. Prasad. Another police officer also said that the timing of the incidents was coincidence. Given that the five men have been arrested in connection with four cases of assault, it is likely that the number of perpetrators may be lesser than the number the victims had described while recounting their experience of May 26.
With more arrests likely, further clarity is expected as the investigation proceeds.
The case of Leuchy
The police reiterated that none of the attacks were racial in nature. According to the police, they were individual scuffles, each of which had a history or was triggered by immediate provocation.
For instance, it reportedly came up during interrogation that Leuchey, the Nigerian national whose nose was broken, had entered the house of one of the accused and was injured in the process of being driven out.
Among the arrested men are Babu (32) and Om Prakash (24), both of whom are from Rajpur Khurd, which is where the incident happened. The other three — Kunal (20), Rahul alias Rocky (24) and Ajay (25) — live in adjoining Maidan Garhi. Both the areas house a sizeable African population.
The police, meanwhile, did not disclose the profile of any of the accused. The fourth FIR in the case, which was registered with regard to the alleged attack on Cameroonian businessman Pierres and his sister Vicky, includes charges of voluntary causing hurt, wrongful restraint and criminal intimidation — similar to the other complaints.
