NEW DELHI: The
special investigating team probing the
violence that occurred during the
anti-CAA protests has found that at least
15 criminals, who are
Bangladeshis, were involved in the clashes that took place in
Seemapuri on December 20.
Sources said all of them were staying illegally in JJ colonies on the city’s borders. The Bangladeshis were earlier arrested for carrying out burglaries. Police sources said they have been identified and will be arrested soon.
The SIT will now be probing who funded the protests as it suspects a foreign hand in it. The team will also visit Tihar Jail to interrogate the arrested rioters.
During the
Seemapuri riots, a group protesting at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border suddenly turned violent and started pelting stones at parked vehicles. When police tried to intervene, the mob chased after the handful of cops and threw stones and broken bottles at them.
The SIT is probing whether there was a common link between all the riots. They are also trying to find out the source from which such huge gatherings at Seelampur and Daryaganj were mobilised. Some of the WhatsApp groups through which the youths were mobilised are being scanned to identify who motivated them.
It has been found that the riots were spearheaded by a handful of people. Efforts are on to establish whether they were the same set of people involved in sparking all instances of violence at Seelampur, Seemapuri and Daryaganj.
The analysis of the rumours circulated to fan the riots indicated at a well thought out strategy of someone who had been watching the developments from a distance. Police were shocked to find rioters already carrying stones and Molotov cocktails when they had reached the spot.