Former JNU student Umar Khalid arrested in connection with north east Delhi riots

Khalid, who has been earlier charged with the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in relation to another case linked to the riots, was arrested as Delhi Police special cell said it was investigating a “larger conspiracy angle” behind the bloody riots that continued from February 23 to 26, claiming 53 lives and leaving nearly 400 injured.

On Saturday Umar Khalid was summoned by Delhi Police and he was asked to join the investigation on Sunday at the Special Cell office in Lodhi Colony, sources said.

Earlier on July 31, Khalid had been questioned by the Delhi Police when his phone was seized, sources added.

Umar Khalid arrived at the Special Cell office on Sunday around 1 pm and following a marathon interrogation, he was arrested under UAPA around 11 pm.

Earlier on March 6, an FIR was registered against Khalid for his alleged role in the Northeast Delhi violence.

Umar Khalid will be produced before a Delhi court on Monday.

"The fight against draconian CAA and UAPA will go on despite all these horrid measures of intimidation. Right now, our first priority is that #UmarKhalid should be given maximum security and the Delhi Police must ensure his safety by all means possible," United Against Hate, an activist group, whose member is Umar Khalid, said in a statement.

The special cell told a court last month that Khalid and the other accused -- former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and activist Khalid Saifi -- had plotted a conspiracy to orchestrate the riots, ahead of the visit of US President Donald Trump in February, said an HT report.

The report said that the police have stated in at least four charge sheets that Khalid had met jailed and suspended Aam Aadmi Party’s councillor Hussain and Saifi on January 8 at the Shaheen Bagh sit-in protest site to allegedly hatch the conspiracy.

Meanwhile, Khalid's father tweeted about his son's arrest. 

"My son Umar Khalid has been arrested tonight at 11:00 pm by Special Cell, Delhi Police under UAPA. Police was questioning him since 1:00 pm. He has been implicated in Delhi Riots. #StandWithUmarKhalid," he wrote.

Apart from Tahir Hussain, Jamia student Meeran Haider, Jamia Coordination Committee’s media coordinator Safoora Zargar, and Pinjra Tod activists Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, have been arrested under the Unlawful Activity Prevention Act (UAPA), said media reports.

Jawaharlal Nehru University students Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal and Jamia Millia Islamia University student Gulfisha Fathima have been also named accused in Delhi's Jaffrabad violence, which gradually engulfed the other parts of north-east Delhi in February.