2 years on since death of man made to sing anthem, Delhi Police plan cash reward to identify their own

Faizan died in a hospital on February 26, 2020, a day after his release from a police station where he was taken after he was allegedly assaulted by policemen in Northeast Delhi and, along with four others, forced to sing Vande Mataram and the national anthem.

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Sources said the Crime Branch questioned about 250 police personnel and scanned a number of documents, including duty charts of the policemen deployed from outside the area during the riots.

“After questioning them, a head constable posted with the Delhi Armed Police was identified, but he denied his involvement. Later, his polygraph test was conducted, which he failed. Since the report of the polygraph test is not admissible in court, police took his voice sample from a video clip of the incident and sent it to the forensic science laboratory in Rohini,” said a police source.

Sources also said that senior officials of the Crime Branch have asked the special investigation team looking into the riot cases to change the investigating officers of all cases that are still unsolved. This is to ensure new investigating officers look at the cases with fresh eyes.

Recently, the investigation officer in Faizan’s case was also changed, and the new IO was asked to propose a cash reward on the arrest of the accused. “The new IO has started questioning all police personnel again. About 95 police personnel have been questioned so far,” said an officer.