Delhi: ‘Chakka jam on roads precursor to riots’

NEW DELHI: Giving details about how the alleged conspirators of the riots gave a final shape to their plan, the chargesheet filed by Delhi Police mentions that the rioters moved in a coordinated manner from point to point in northeast Delhi. Police claim to have backed this information with data of locations obtained through call analysis and other electronic means.The movements were also established through the WhatsApp conversations retrieved from mobile devices.


Police sources said that the probe found that on February 22 night, the alleged key conspirators, under the guise of women leading the 24x7 sit-in protest near Madina Masjid at Seelampur, occupied the 66 Foota Road at Jafrabad metro station, completely blocking the traffic.
The next day, the conspirators from other protest sites in northeast and other parts of Delhi moved to pre-decided points on arterial roads and blocked or attempted to block the traffic. These blockades, police claimed, were chosen as part of a coordinated plan to completely paralyse traffic in a large part of the capital.
“The intent was not to create traffic chaos, but to ensure communal skirmish, as is evident from the movement from predominantly minority clusters where 24x7 sit-in dharnas were being held to areas of mixed population for causing the chakka jam. The blockade was to be followed up by pre-engineered riots involving attack on police and non-Muslim population, damage and destruction of government and public property, and by arson, vandalising and other means,” the police investigation claimed.
It was also claimed by police that protesters from other sites visited the chakka jam at Jafrabad metro station on the intervening night of February 22 and 23 “to learn the modus operandi and the response and action mechanism of police”. From February 23, the conspirators from other protest sites completely blocked the traffic at pre-designated spots on the main roads, police further claimed.
“The investigation shows that protesters from the Chand Bagh protest site occupied the main road and enforced a chakka jam on Wazirabad-Ghaziabad Road. Protesters from the site at Farukhiya Masjid-Brijpuri Pulia blocked traffic at Brijpuri T-Point on Wazirabad-Ghaziabad Road. Subsequently, protesters near Kardampuri Pulia blocked the traffic at T-Point of 66 Foota Road. Those from the Khureji protest site blocked the main Patparganj road,” claimed a source.
The source added that later, traffic on 66 Foota Road, Wazirabad-Ghaziabad Road and other important stretches in northeast Delhi, Shahdara and east Delhi was completely blocked by protesters from all other sites in the region. Protesters from Hauz Rani blocked Press Enclave Road, Saket, in south Delhi.
Following the chakka jam, the first phase of the riots began with coordinated attacks on police and soon spread to the general public. “Firearms, petrol bombs, acid attacks, sharp-edged weapons, iron rods, sticks, stone-pelting through large prefabricated slingshots and by other means were used for attacking and killing police personnel, government employees and the general public,” police said.
“Soon after, a petrol pump was set ablaze in an attempt to cause a large-scale explosion. This could have resulted in deaths on a very large scale and spread terror. The conspiracy was also hatched to paralyse the access to essential supplies and services such as hospitals, medical stores, Delhi Metro and other public transport, schools and colleges,” the probe claimed.