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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, DEC 27: Batla House area near the Jamia Millia was tense for the second day with its residents staging a protest against the police at the Jamia Nagar police post around 1.30 p.m. They alleged that Abu Shalam a suspected militant who died in an encounter with the Delhi police yesterday at Muradi road was killed in a ‘‘fake’’ encounter.
Their main complaint was that the encounter was an attempt at defaming an otherwise peaceful area.
At the police chowki, the crowd led by the local councillor from the area, Asif Mohammad Khan, demanded a CBI enquiry into the encounter which according to them was a fake one.
The impromptu protest began when a carpenter, reportedly sent by the police tried to break the door of the dingy room in which Shalam was shot. The people of the area who spotted the carpenter trying to enter the flat stopped him.
Earlier, parents of Sajjad, one of the ‘‘other three’’ living in the room adjacent to Shalam’s had come from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh. According to sources, Sajjad is a student of Jamia Millia Islamia and is now missing. But the parents quickly disappeared from the scene.
This led to speculation that they were taken away by the police. The chowki-in-charge denied it. A rumour also did the rounds for some time that they were parents of the slain Shamal. DCP Spcial Cell, Ashok Chand, said ‘‘the rumours on Shalam is basically a misinformation campaign by people with vested interest.’’
2nd ‘Lashkar’ man shot
