Delhi riots murder accused was a 2008 murder convict out on bail: chargesheet

Parvez succumbed to a gunshot injury in the right chest; Tyagi has been booked for murder and rioting.

The Delhi Police chargesheet mentions his earlier conviction and the bail granted by the Allahabad High Court. That bail itself had been a subject of controversy.

That case relates to the killing of a resident in Baghpat on December 17, 2008. Court records said the victim was shot while he was going to purchase medicines. In 2014, three persons, Hari Om, Praveen and Naresh Tyagi were held guilty of murder.

All three filed a criminal appeal against the conviction. On April 4, 2015, Tyagi and Praveen were granted bail by the Allahabad High Court. But Hari Om’s bail was rejected on July 21, 2015.

Court records accessed by The Indian Express show that in 2015, the complainant in the Baghpat murder case made a startling claim before the High Court: that the police had been “favouring” the accused “throughout the investigation and trial,” gave “all-out help to the accused to escape conviction,” and the other accused (Praveen and Tyagi) got bail because they were not named in the chargesheet.

This submission was placed on record by the High Court which rejected the bail plea filed by the accused Hari Om on July 21, 2015.

Significantly, in the Parvez murder case, as reported by the Indian Express, an office-bearer of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, among those questioned by police, has lodged a complaint that “false cases” are being foisted on “innocent Hindus”.

On April 9 this year, Devesh Mishra, VHP vice-president of Yamuna Vihar Vibhaag, was among 22 people summoned by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police in connection with the probe into the murder of Parvez.

The same night, six of them, including Mishra, were allowed to leave. Mishra claims he was called for questioning on the basis of a “false complaint” filed by the victim’s son Sahil Parvez, stating that Mishra was leading the mob.

In his letter, he also makes specific mention of accused Naresh: “Naresh Tyagi and his elder brother Virender Tyagi, along with their entire family, at 7:00 am, on February 22, left to Baghpat for a family function and returned at 11:00 pm.”

According to the Delhi Police chargesheet, however, Tyagi was identified as a member of a rioting mob in the area and this was corroborated by the location of his cellphone at “the place (and time) of occurrence” of the alleged crime.