new delhi: The Delhi police crime branch team probing the February riots in north-east Delhi said on Sunday that they had arrested the man who they believe had killed Rahul Solanki, a 26-year-old law student who was one of the 53 people murdered during the deadly riots.
The Delhi Police said the arrested accused had been identified as Mustaqeem (25) alias Sameer Saifi, a resident of old Mustafabad and carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh to anyone whose information could lead to his arrest. The police claim that Mustaqeem shot Solanki dead near the Rajdhani Public School in Shiv Vihar on February 24, which was a hotspot during the riots. However, after Mustaqeen's arrest, he was sent to judicial custody instead of police custody, with the cops claiming that he had joined the anti-CAA/NRC protest site near Farooqia Masjid, which in fact, was burnt down by pro-CAA agitators.
The SIT has arrested seven other accused — Arif, Anis, Sirajuddin, Salman, Sonu, Saifi and Irshad — in the Solanki case and they have been chargesheeted for actively participating in the riots with a common objective to cause death, burn properties, police said.
During investigation, eyewitnesses described the person who opened fire on Solanki. They identified the accused from his clothes and appearance after they were shown a video of the incident, a senior police officer said.
"Our team questioned hundreds from the area and verified their presence at the spot through physical and technical means. But we did not find any information. After six months, on September 3, one of our sources informed us and he was apprehended from Bhajanpura Majar," the officer said.
Mustaqeem denied his involvement initially but accepted after "detailed questioning", police claimed, adding that they recovered a country-made pistol purportedly used in the murder along with five live round at his instance.
A mobile phone and the clothes, including the jeans, shoes and helmet, which he was wearing at the time of committing the crime have also been found, police said. Mustaqeem studied up to class 10 but dropped out to work as a carpenter, they said.