A day after five persons were arrested for allegedly attacking police personnel during a Delhi High Court-ordered anti-encroachment drive around the Faiz-e-Ilahi Mosque in the Turkman Gate area, the Delhi Police arrested six more persons on Thursday.
Police also said a female social media influencer has been summoned for questioning after 10 influencers were identified for allegedly spreading rumours that the mosque had been demolished.
Further, police are likely to send notices to two politicians who may have been involved in instigating the people, which led to at least five police personnel sustaining injuries in the stone-pelting that took place in the early hours of Wednesday. Police plan to send a notice to Samajwadi Party leader Mohibbullah Nadvi, who was allegedly present on the spot, to join the investigation. Joint Commissioner of Police Madhur Verma had earlier said, “In a preliminary investigation, it has come to light that he was present there, but had left by the time the demolition began. This is being investigated.”
Those arrested on Thursday were identified as, Afaan, Adil, Shahnawaz, Hamza, Atharr and Ubed, all residents of Turkman Gate area. Police said they allegedly instigated others to indulge in stone pelting.
All the accused were identified based on CCTV camera footage and body-worn cameras used by police personnel present at the clash site.
Sources said police have so far identified 25 people who were allegedly involved in stone pelting. Among these 25, 11 have been arrested. More arrests are likely in the coming days, police added.
Trouble began after social media posts falsely claimed that the mosque opposite Turkman Gate was being demolished, prompting a mob of 150 to 200 people to gather and later pelt stones and bottles at police personnel and Municipal Corporation of Delhi workers.
The female social media influencer was allegedly summoned for questioning after social media monitoring teams of the police flagged a video in which she purportedly claimed that the mosque had been razed, a senior police officer said on Thursday.
Police said a probe has also found that two politicians had arrived at the site before the demolition began. “Notices will be sent to them… We need to examine to what extent they motivated people at the site,” an officer said.
Nadeem Malik, father of Atharr, who was arrested on Thursday, told The Indian Express that his son was arrested after he was noticed in the area by a police personnel. “They took his phone and found some videos on it. Ye videos toh group pe sab ke pass aayi thi (All have received these videos). He was then picked up by the police… He never joined the protests,” said Malik, whose family has been living at Shankar Gali in Turkman Gate for over seven generations.
Malik added that later in the night, he managed to get Atharr home, on the condition that he will return for questioning on Thursday. “Today, around 11 am, I dropped him at the police station,” he said.
Meanwhile, demolition of some encroached portions continued on Thursday, with civic authorities also clearing debris from the site. MCD officials earlier said around 36,000 square feet of encroached area, including a diagnostic centre, a banquet hall and boundary walls, had been removed, while the mosque remained untouched. The police shared aerial footage of the demolition site, saying videos taken both before and after the operation clearly establish that the mosque was not touched.
Five accused – Kashif, Mohammad Kaif, Areeb, Adnan and Sameer – who were arrested on Wednesday, were remanded to 13 days of judicial custody by a Delhi court on Thursday.
Police are learnt to have collected a voice note from Adnan’s cellphone, in which he is allegedly heard asking people to “come out” because “this is not the time to sleep”. The message was allegedly posted in two WhatsApp groups of resident welfare associations in the area, each with 300-400 members.
More than a dozen teams of the Delhi Police are investigating whether there was a deeper conspiracy to create a law and order situation on Tuesday night.
Demolition of some encroached portions at Turkman Gate area. (Amit Mehra/File) 
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