On 23rd February, BJP’s Kapil Mishra held a rally about 2 kilometres from Jafrabad in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
New Delhi| In a case related to the murder of Head Constable Rattan Lal during the violence in North East Delhi in February, Delhi Police chargesheet has named Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav for giving speeches at north-east Delhi’s Chand Bagh. Though the chargesheet does not name him as one of the main accused but as a potential co-conspirator. According to an Indian Express report on Wednesday, a witness statement in chargesheet filed by the police says he had heard people at a protest site shout that a pandal had been set on fire by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kapil Mishra’s people.
On 23rd February, BJP’s Kapil Mishra held a rally about 2 kilometres from Jafrabad in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act. While addressing a crowd, Mishra had given police an ultimatum of three-day to clear the protests. A day later, unprecedented communal violence broke out in northeast Delhi leaving at least 53 people dead and hundreds injured.
According to NDTV, Yogendra Yadav, in a video statement said, “Police chargesheet is there, but there is no charge. I’m not an accused. They haven’t said anything against me, except one thing – that I used to come and go and give speeches. It wasn’t a secret. Every speech that I gave is in the public domain.”
Whereas, the Delhi police has said, “Links of the organisers of the (Chand Bagh) protest site with the likes of DS Bindra (AIMIM), Kawalpreet Kaur (AISA), Devangana Kalita (Pinjra Tod), Safoora, Yogendra Yadav indicate a hidden agenda behind the violence.”
There has been no mention of Kapil Mishra’s incendiary speech in the latest chargesheet filed in the Delhi riots case.
Police analysis of the witness statements recorded in the chargesheet said, “Continuous misinformation about CAA and NRC was being spread from the protest site in which several students of DU and Jamia were also involved. Illegal march was taken out on February 23, which was stopped by police and later in the night the conspirators held a meeting in which strategy for February 24 was decided.”
It further said that the violence was not impromptu but planned. “The organisers and protesters chose the date and time for the march and road blockage, that is, February 23 to 24 for riots, keeping in view the [visit] of Donald Trump, president of USA, to gain the maximum impact,” the chargesheet mentioned.
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