Delhi riots: Cop murder chargesheet says mob had hidden sticks and iron rods

On February 24, Delhi Police received information that “anti-CAA protesters are sitting on the slip road of Wazirabad road… and they are very aggressive”. As per a statement recorded from an injured policeman, constable Sunil of Dayalpur police station, “DCP Shahdara Amit Sharma was present there with his staff… around 1 pm, protesters came to the Wazirabad main road so senior officers present there tried to convince them not to… the crowd had sticks, baseball sticks, iron rods and stones.”

As per the statement in the chargesheet, “ACP Gokalpuri and DCP Shahdara warned the protesters again… some people from the crowd pelted stones at the police party… They had hidden sticks, baseball, iron rods in the tent and started beating police and passers-by.”

The statement mentions that there were a large number of protesters and they snatched “gas shells” and “lathis” from police personnel and started beating them up.

“The crowd, including some women, started hitting ACP Gokalpuri, DCP Shahdara, and HC Rattan Lal… they were hit with stones and sticks. All three fell there and heavy stone pelting happened due to which they hurt their head and there was heavy bleeding,” said the statement by constable Sunil.

The chargesheet mentions that DCP Shahdara received serious injuries along with several other personnel. Protesters started “pelting stones at the police officials unwarranted… Some were lucky as they were able to jump off the five feet high divider but some got stuck and were dreadfully lynched. These police officials collapsed then and there. The violence was ferocious,” reads the chargesheet.