Jahangirpuri violence: Delhi Police chief says no bid to plant saffron flag on mosque
Darpan News Desk IANS, 18 Apr, 2022 10:04 AM
New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) There is no evidence for the theory that a bid to plant saffron flags at a mosque led to violence in Delhi's Jahangirpuri but was "a minor argument which later took the shape of massive violence", Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana said on Monday.
"The people who are saying that someone attempted to plant a flag there... it is not true," he said at a press briefing on the Jahangirpuri communal violence.
He said it is too soon to tell what the reason for provocation was . "This is part of the investigation. I can't tell you anything because the investigation is yet to be completed," he said.
Asked again about planting the saffron flag, Asthana said: "It is not right. There was no such thing."
However, Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind's Delhi state General Secretary Abdul Raziq, who visited the site of the violence along with a delegation on Sunday, told IANS that when the third procession was passing near the mosque, some miscreants tried to enter and place a 'saffron flag' at the gate of the mosque.
Asthana also said that at the time of violence the police were present in adequate numbers and initially even managed to separate both the groups.
"Nine people, including 8 cops, were injured in the clashes. This shows that the police efficiently did their job which prevented any injury to the public," he added.
According to the BSF, around 5.15 a.m. an alert BSF team comprising Head Constable (HC) Gyan Singh and Constable Raju Biswas of 89 Battalion observed suspicious movement of miscreants, suspected to be smugglers both across the International Border as well as inside the Indian territory between the Border Outpost No. 33/06 and 33/07 in the cover of dense fog.
In an apparent embarrassment for Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, his 'elder sister' Suman Tur on Friday described him a 'cruel' for deserting her elderly mother after father's death with an intention to 'grab family property'. She told the media here that Sidhu had abandoned her mother and she passed away on a railway station in 1989.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday demanded transfer of state intelligence officials, including the top brass, who face charges of compromising the security of Punjab and indulging in electoral malpractices to provide "illegal, illegitimate and immoral" help to the ruling Congress.
Due to incessant rains and water logging of fields owing to overflow of nearby natural drains during September-October 2021 in Delhi, crops of farmers have been severely damaged, the Delhi government said in a release, adding that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had taken cognisance of the matter and assessed that a relief package for crop damage was necessary to be provided.
The SKM also reiterated that the name, banner or platform of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha will not be used by any political party or candidate in the run-up to the Assembly polls in Punjab, scheduled on February 20.
Appearing for the Punjab government, Senior Advocate P. Chidambaram argued that Majithia has gone into hiding after the rejection of his bail plea in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and now he is appearing through counsel.
