2 shops 600 m apart burnt, 1 FIR, 7 arrests & a headless investigation
New Delhi: In yet another instance of the Delhi Police clubbing FIRs in north-east Delhi riots cases, Duli Chand Pal's shop in Karawl Nagar was looted and burnt by rioters who were shouting "anti-CAA/NRC slogans" on February 24 last year. His FIR was registered by the Delhi Police and seven people — Shakil, Habib Raza, Mohd. Yamin, Usman, Shahid, Furkan and Irshad — were arrested in the case.
The damage to his shop, Anil Pastry, caused him a loss of around Rs 12 to Rs 13 lakhs, Pal claims. Apart from this, his scooty which was parked in front of his shop was reportedly set on fire by the
mob on the same day. However, Pal's complaint has been clubbed with that of Alauddin, who said his shop, Akash Band — barely 600 metres away from Pal's — was vandalised around the same time.
He alleged that at around 6 PM, he received a call from his son, claiming that a mob was present in the area and was raising slogans of "Jai Shree Ram" and shouting "Maro mullo ko, luto mullo ko". Following this, his son locked the shop and fled the spot. On February 28, Allauddin received a call saying his shop had been ransacked and set on fire by a mob.
As per police, an investigation into Pal's complaint took precedence over that of Allauddin as the former's grievance forms the basis of the FIR and not the latter's. The Investigating Officer (IO) in the case, Sub-Inspector Shiv Charan told Millennium Post: "Pal's complaint is the main aspect of the case for which we have conducted due investigation and collected necessary electronic evidence from near his shop… through which we have arrested the seven accused".
When asked about Allauddin's complaint, he said, "It is possible that the same set of persons could have destroyed his shop too... that is why we have clubbed the FIRs since they are similar incidents of vandalism…"
The officer added, "There were tons of people rushing to lodge their FIRs and hence the system was overburdened which led to officers resorting to such methods."
But the seven arrested for allegedly burning Pal's shop has been the only outcome of the investigation in the FIR so far. Meanwhile, all of the seven are now out on bail. In one of the bail orders, that of Habib Raza's, the court noted that his name surfaced only after 6-7 days after the registration of the FIR.
Incidentally, a letter was written by the administration of one Shree Ram Dharmik Samiti in Nehru Vihar in March to the Magistrate of Karkardooma court in support of three of the accused who they claim were only protecting the temple when riots broke out in the area and hence deserved to be released on bail. The said FIR also consists of another complaint from one Mohd. Sahid, a resident of Old Mustafabad, who alleged that his bike was burnt by a mob on the same day. Lawyer Abdul Gaffar, representing four of the seven accused, alleged that the police investigation into the case seems to be "one-sided" with only persons of one community being arrested and the other complaint pointing to a Hindu mob being turned a blind eye to.
Meanwhile, 61-year-old Allauddin says despite submitting all evidence, pleading with the police to collect CCTV footage from outside his shop and making several rounds of courts, no probe has been done on his complaint so far. He is struggling to run his shop, which he rebuilt with much difficulty with his son with the Rs 25,000 compensation from the Delhi government, which barely covered his losses.
