NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has filed written submissions before a Delhi court on Wednesday opposing the registration of an FIR against minister Kapil Mishra for his alleged role in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots. The submissions were filed before the court of additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) Vaibhav Chaurasia.
The prosecution told the court that Mishra was being framed in the matter and that he did not play a role in the Feb 2020 communal riots. On Feb 27, the court reserved the order for March 24 after noting the prosecution’s submissions that, according to the investigation, a plan was hatched to blame Mishra for the violence.
Special public prosecutor Amit Prasad submitted that Mishra’s role in the larger conspiracy behind the riots had been probed by Delhi Police’s Special Cell. “The chats of the Delhi Protest Support Group show that the chakka jams were planned well in advance, as early as Feb 15 and 17, 2020. Police investigation revealed that a plan was hatched to shift the blame onto Mishra,” the prosecution told the court.
Yamuna Vihar resident Mohammad Ilyas had sought the registration of an FIR against Mishra, the then SHO of Dayalpur and five others, including BJP MLA Mohan Singh Bisht and former BJP MLAs Jagdish Pradhan and Satpal Sansad.
Ilyas claimed that on Feb 23, 2020, he saw Mishra and others blocking the road in Kardampuri and damaging the carts of street vendors. He also claimed that then DCP (North East) and other Delhi Police officers stood beside Mishra and threatened action against protestors if they did not vacate the area. He said that over the next three days he witnessed the SHO, Pradhan, Bisht and Sansad vandalising mosques in the riot-torn areas.
Prasad argued that the WhatsApp chats of Delhi Protest Support Group showed how chakka jams were being planned well in advance of the outbreak of violence, as early as Feb 15 and 17.
He added that the investigation had unearthed a plan that was hatched to blame Mishra for the hostilities by saying he had led the mob that triggered the violence.
DCP (North East) had stated that the said claims of the complainant had already been addressed in the various FIRs lodged in various police stations of the riot affected areas.
As for the names of the others accused in the application, Delhi Police submitted that none of them had cropped up during the investigation in the FIRs related to the violence.
