Trilokpuri on Wednesday. Five people, including two teens, received bullet injuries in the communal clash in Trilokpuri in east Delhi last week. Delhi Police claims their bullets did not cause the injuries and an FIR filed by the police clearly mentions that they fired in “self defence”.
A copy of the Delhi Police First Information Report (FIR) says that a inspector who was surrounded by an angry mob Oct 24 night in Block 27 of Trilokpuri fired with his service revolver after he was pelted with stones and also beaten by miscreants.
The officer had gone to the site after receiving a call about stone pelting in the area at 8.27 p.m. “Inspector Dheeraj Kumar was hit by a heavy stone on his head by a miscreant and some people tried to snatch his service revolver. In self defense he opened fire…,” says the FIR, which was registered late evening Oct 24.
“To save Dheeraj Kumar from the angry crowd, constable Dharmendra opened fire twice from his service revolver in the air,” the FIR added.
The families of the two teenagers who are in hospital being treated for bullet injuries claim that the two boys were wounded in police firing. But police officers deny this and say the injuries are caused by firing in a communal clash.
The working class congested area of Trilokpuri has been tense since Diwali night Oct 23 when clashes broke out between Hindu and Muslims over a petty issue, leaving 70 injured, including 56 policemen.
Delhi Police have FIRs on Oct 23, Oct 24 and Oct 25 on the riots at Trilokpuri, where prohibitory orders have been imposed for the past five days.
So far, 67 people have been arrested in connection with the case.
The Diwali night (Oct 23) FIR was registered soon after a stone pelting incident in Block 20. It says: “The police officials after reaching the spot found that clashes had broken out between the two communities after someone burst a Diwali firecracker bomb in someone else’s house.”
Police found the streets littered with stones and smashed glass bottles. Five cars and two ATMS were also damaged.
“After arriving at the spot, the police team did not find any eyewitnesses to the riots,” the FIR said.
Police arrested two people, identified as Mohd. Ahad, 19 and Dilshad, 20 from the area and collected some of the riot debris lying on the road.
The third FIR was registered on Oct 25 after a clash at Block 27 and it says that some people among the mob were carrying firearms. The police have also got mobile video clips of people carrying firearms during the clash.
“The video clips clearly show some people carrying pistols. This disproves the people’s claim that the five people were injured due to police firing,” a senior police officer said.
Meanwhile, prohibitory orders on the gathering and movement of people in Delhi’s Trilokpuri area following communal clashes were relaxed for six hours Wednesday as no fresh violence was reported, police said.
“The situation in the area is presently calm. The relaxation was from 12 noon to 6 p.m. today (Wednesday),” Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjay Beniwal said.
“Relaxation in prohibitory orders was given till 6 p.m. considering the Chhath puja as people leave their houses around 4 p.m.,” he said.
The prohibitory orders were Tuesday relaxed for three hours from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
People were Wednesday morning allowed to venture out of their houses to buy milk, vegetables and other essential food items.
All shops opened just after the relaxation in prohibitory orders.
Long queues of people were seen outside grocery shops, chemist shops, Safal outlets and Mother Dairy kiosks.
Many groups of women and men ventured out of their houses between 3.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. and gathered near two parks in Block 35 and 36 to offer Chhath Puja.
They prepared makeshift ponds in the parks and performed the rituals like in the past.
“As the whole celebration was in the presence of police, we enjoyed our puja rituals,” Amrita, a 43-year-old resident, said.
Pratibha, another 30-year-old woman devotee, said: “We did not feel any obstacle while performing Chhath puja but police were reminding us through loudspeakers to go back home before 6 p.m. as the relaxation in prohibitory orders would end at that time.”
A recce was again done Wednesday through an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone to assure if people still have bricks, stones and glass bottles collected in their houses.
The UAV was Tuesday deployed to monitor rooftops for bricks and glass bottles in the troubled area and it helped police recover a huge quantity of such items from many houses during raids.
“The drones also helped police seize weapons Tuesday,” the police official said.
Delhi Police officials Wednesday again met clerics of both the Hindu and Muslim communities to keep the situation calm.
Two groups of Hindus and Muslims had clashed on Diwali Oct 23 after which the authorities imposed prohibitory orders banning illegal gatherings.
“So far, 67 people have been arrested in connection with the clashes,” Beniwal said, adding that the arrests were made based on photographic and video evidence available with police.
Irfan, one of the five key accused responsible for igniting the violence, was arrested Monday night.
A hunt for the remaining four – Mobin, Asif, Tariq and Jafar – was still on.
Trilokpuri, divided into 36 blocks, is being manned by over 1,000 security personnel from Delhi Police, Rapid Action Force and Central Reserve Police Force along with over 30 police vans, water cannons and riot control vehicles.