The Delhi police in a chargesheet filed on the killing of Dilbar Negi, a sweet shop employee, during the north-east Delhi riots in February, have mentioned that all the 12 accused in the case were under the apprehension that if they failed to produce “documents” they would lose their citizenship.
The accused were identified with the help of eyewitnesses, CCTV footage and technical surveillance, said the police. According to the chargesheet, all the 12 accused — Mohd. Shahnawaz alias Shanu, Mohd. Faizal, Azad, Asraf Ali, Rashid, Monu, Shahrukh, Mohd. Shoaib, Parvez, Mohammed Tahir, Salman and Sonu Saifi — gave a common statement before the police that they were informed by their friends during the anti-CAA protests earlier this year that “they would lose their citizenship if they failed to produce their documents”.
The chargesheet mentions that when the riots broke out in Shiv Vihar on February 24-25, Dilbar Negi, 20, got trapped inside the second floor of the sweet shop. On February 26, his charred body was recovered from the shop. The police said he was burnt alive and his limbs were missing. The chargesheet also states that the mob had gathered in the area to show “power of Muslims”.
One of the accused, Salman, allegedly told the police that he had attended an anti-CAA protest at Brijpuri culvert, where he heard advocate Bhanu Pratap and students of Jamia Millia islamia address the crowd on the Act. There his friends told him about the “document and citizenship” issue.
The accused have been charged under Section 302 (murder), Section 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) and other relevant sections of IPC. The chargesheet also mentions that the anti-CAA protests were organised at seve n locations in north-east Delhi and they “polarised and tensed the environment”. All 12 accused in the case are in judicial custody. A supplementary chargesheet will be filed as many other accused were involved in rioting outside DRP Convent Public School and Rajdhani Public School. They were also involved in damaging property and killing Dilbar Negi.
