Delhi Turkman Gate violence: Police say Samajwadi Party leaders present at spot, role to be probed
The Delhi Police claim that Samajwadi Party leaders were present at the spot when violence broke out Turkman Gate area during a demolition drive. They said that CCTV footage and drone footage is being analysed to know what role they played during the entire fiasco and if they were involved in provoking the crowd to attacks the police personnel. At least 5 cops were injured in the incident.
New Delhi: A special team of the Delhi Police will probe the violence that took place at Turkman Gate area on Wednesday. Locals had pelted stones at the police team which had gone there to maintain peace, during a demolition drive carried out by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Public Works Department (PWD).
SP leaders present at spot: Police sources
According to police sources, some Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders were present at the spot while the violence there unfolded. The police reportedly have video footage of the entire fiasco and plan to identify the party leaders present at Turkman Gate at the time. Appropriate action will then be initiated against them, added the sources, quoted by NDTV.
The locals pelted stones at the MCD officials and the police team, which went to Turkman Gate to demolish some illegal structures near the Faiz-e-Elahi mosque, near the Ramlila Ground. The police have identified 50 stone pelters till now. In fact 10 of them have also been taken into custody.
5 cops were injured in the incident.
The demolition drive was carried out at around 1 am on Wednesday, after a Delhi High Court order. Last year, in November, the court had ordered clearing of 39,000 sq ft area at the Ramlila Ground of encroachments. This included a road and its footpath, a banquet hall, a parking area, and a private diagnostic centre.
Reportedly there was also a graveyard in the zone marked for demolition. The main objection was to the demolition of this structure. The mosque committee had challenged the order of the High Court. Their counsel argued that the property belonged to the Waqf board and only the Waqf tribunal had the right to take any call regarding the demolition, not the court.
The petitioner also said that they do not have any problems with removing the road, the diagnostic centre and the footpath which is built on the encroached land. Their only objection was to razing the graveyard.
In defence, the MCD argued that only 0.195 acres of land, where the mosque stands, was leased in 1940. This area, they said, does not include the land where the graveyard has been built. This, they said, comes under encroached territory near the Ramlila Maidan and therefore needs to be removed in compliance with the court order.