Amid severe criticisms over violence, Delhi Police get new chief
New Delhi/IBNS: Amid severe criticisms over their role to control the deadly violence in the national capital, the Delhi Police on Friday got its new commissioner as Indian Police Service (IPS) officer SN Shrivastava assumed the post replacing Amulya Patnaik, media reports said.
Patnaik will retire on Saturday.
Shrivastava, a 1985 batch officer of thr Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory of AGMUT cadre, has been given the additional charge as the Delhi Police chief.
This comes days after Shrivastava was made Special Commissioner (Law and Order) by the Home Ministry after bringing him from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to put an end to the violence over the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which aims to provide Indian citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi but not Muslim refugees who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh due to religious persecution before 2015.
The Delhi Police's role came under the scanner as 39 people have died over the violence which had kept the national capital on edge since Monday.
The violence, which continued from Monday morning to Tuesday night, has left over 200 people injured.
The clash though initially started between the supporters and protestors of the CAA, it soon turned into a battle between the two religious communities in the northeast Delhi.
Senior officials of Delhi Police on Thursday evening announced to constitute two Special Investigation Teams (SITs) to probe the deadly communal violence.
According to reports, these SITs, which have been formed under Delhi Police's Crime Branch, will be headed by DCP Joy Tirkey and DCP Rajesh Deo while the activities of the two SITs will be supervised by Delhi Crime Branch's Additional CP B.K. Singh.
"All the cases connected with the North East Delhi violence have been forwarded to these two SITs which will take over the probe immediately," a senior Delhi Police official told IBNS.
"So far, as many as 48 FIRs have been registered by police in different police stations in North East Delhi in connection with the violence and there are possibilities to lodge more FIRs as the investigation is on," the official said.
"All these FIRs have been transferred to these two Special Investigation Teams," he added.
Sources in Delhi Police said that investigators are currently gathering inputs from local sources and quizzing eyewitnesses while more than 1,000 CCTV and social media footage of the violence are under examination.
Meanwhile, multiple video clips, the authenticity of which have not been examined by IBNS independently, have gone viral on social media platforms which show a man resembling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor (now suspended by the party) Tahir Hussain leading an attack from a house's rooftop during the Delhi violence.
Though Hussain said he was innocent, a case has been filed against the councillor in connection with the alleged murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) official Ankit Sharma during the ongoing Delhi violence.
He also faces charges related to spreading of violence and arson in parts of north east Delhi.
An FIR has been registered under section 302 IPC (Murder) at Dayalpur police station and name of AAP Councillor Md. Tahir Hussain has been mentioned in the 'Details' section of the FIR, soruces told IBNS.
The AAP has suspended Hussain from the primary membership of the party.
Hussain will remain suspended until the charges against him are cleared.
(Image Credit: Screenshot grab)
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