Delhi riots: 3 admit to pistol, firing; hunt on for 24 suspects

The Delhi Police chargesheet cites an analysis of Call Detail Records of the accused to show that they were present at the crime scene. And footage from CCTVs seized from the Rajdhani School, police said, locate six of the accused there.

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Police have also identified 24 more “suspects”, who still have to be questioned. Details of the further investigation will be placed on record in the supplementary chargesheet, the police has said. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)

While nine of the 12 have near identical confessions, the remaining three, Shahnawaz, Salman and Sonu Saifi, have separate statements in which they talk of procuring a pistol and one admits to “firing at Hindus.”

According to Shahnawaz’s statement — part of the Delhi Police chargesheet in the murder of Dilbar Negi — as he saw the crowd coming from Mustafabad, “I and my friends, Sahil Parvez, Salman and their friends collected sticks, match-stick and bottles.”

ALSO READ | Delhi riots: 9 of 12 confession statements near copies of one another

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In his statement, Salman said that he had “told Sonu…to bring the pistol because he had purchased a pistol three-four months back from Shahnawaz.”

He admits that he “wore (a) helmet, and started indiscriminate firing on Hindus at the Shiv Vihar Tiraha, emptied the magazine, and returned the pistol to Sonu.”

In his statement, Sonu says: Salman, who was pelting stones with us, asked me to get a pistol, which I had purchased from Shahnawaz…I bought the pistol from my house and gave it to Salman. Salman wore the helmet, and began firing the bullets at Hindus.”

The Delhi Police chargesheet cites an analysis of Call Detail Records of the accused to show that they were present at the crime scene. And footage from CCTVs seized from the Rajdhani School, police said, locate six of the accused there.

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For example, the chargesheet says, Azad, is seen “carrying a danda” at 4:09:05 pm; Faisal is “seen” at 3:44:50 pm; Shahrukh at 3:27:20 pm; Shoeb is “seen” at 3:37:04 pm; Rashid is “seen” at 3:37:55 pm; Tahir is “seen” at 3:41:59 pm; Salman is seen at 4:50:25 pm.

Kaunain Sheriff M

Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies. With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health. His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award. Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time. Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More

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