Riots: Prima facie no conspiracy, says court for B. Vihar accused
New Delhi: Framing murder and rioting charges against at least nine people, who the Delhi Police have accused of killing as many as nine Mulsim men during the February 2020 riots in north-east Delhi in the Bhagirathi Vihar area, a Delhi court has refused to frame charges of criminal conspiracy against them as of yet, noting that not enough material was shown pointing towards this.
The court of Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat framed charges against Lokesh Solanki, Pankaj Sharma, Sumit Chaudhary, Ankit Chaudhary, Prince, Rishabh Chaudhary, Jatin Sharma, Vivek Panchal and Himanshu Thakur in three of the nine murder cases they stand accused of — further charging three other men in one of these three cases.
The charges were framed under Sections 144 (joining unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapon), 147 and 148 (rioting), 302 (murder), 201 (disappearance of evidence), 364 (kidnapping or
abducting in order to murder), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint)
read with 149 (unlawful assembly) of IPC.
"However, I feel in agreement with the submissions of the Ld. Defence Counsels that there is no material on record which would prima facie indicate that the accused had indulged in the riotous incident in pursuance to any conspiracy and therefore, the charge for the offence u/s 120b IPC is not made out against them," the court noted.
But it also said that the prosecution in the case wanted to address the court on this aspect in detail, considering which, the court said that it would hear arguments on the conspiracy charge on February 22, posting the matter for hearing then.
Significantly, the nine men accused in these cases, according to the Delhi Police, became active in the Bhagirathi
Vihar area on the intervening night of February 25 and 26 in 2020.
According to a group chat they were part of, which is included in the chargesheet against them, they had discussed buying ammunition during the rioting, and allegedly also admitted to having killed Muslims.
The police had accused these nine men and others of killing at least nine Muslim men during the riots and throwing their bodies in the Bhagirathi Vihar drain.
