Did Delhi Police's anti-riot mock drill alert PFI members in Jahangirpuri?

New Delhi, Oct 2 (IANS) During the pan-India raids against the now banned PFI, around six places were raided in Delhi, but the sensitive riot-hit Jahangirpuri was left out, raising questions. Sources have claimed that an anti-riot mock drill, which was conducted in the area, may have forced the agencies to change their plan at the last minute.

The anti-riot mock drill was conducted on September 22 to show the preparedness of police and agencies during the festive season.

Sources claimed that the drill might have alerted the suspected PFI cadres, who ran away from the area. The sources also said that it was not possible that when the raids were being conducted across the capital, the agencies didn't want to raid this area.

The sources said that the agencies had the Jahangirpuri on their raid list, but as there was a mock drill, which alerted everyone, the agencies decided to leave the area out of their plan.

The source said that the mock drill was conducted at the wrong time which might have alerted the accused, who ran away from the area.

"We believe that a few PFI members were living in Jahangirpuri but the mock drill, which can be termed as blunder, alerted them. They might have assumed that the government is planning a big action and fled from the area. When raids were conducted at the pan-India level, and at many places in Delhi, there was no raid in Jahangirpuri. How was it possible? What made the security agencies change their plan. If Jahangirpuri was on their list earlier, then why was it not there when the actual raid took place, it was only because of that mock drill," the source claimed.

 

Tabrez, an accused in the Jahangirpuri riot, was a member of the peace committee and he was also a member of Tiranga Yatra, which was organised in the district. This was also another failure of this district as the senior officials were unaware of it.

The SOPs were also allegedly not followed during the mock drill.

The raids by NIA and other central agencies were conducted in South East Delhi's Jamia, Shahin Bagh, Nizamuddin, Rohini's Aman Vihar, North East Delhi's Seelampur.

On September 27, the agencies conducted a second round of raids which led to the banning of the PFI and its affiliates.

There are now possibilities that Delhi's top police official or the Ministry of Home Affairs might seek a report on this.

IANS tried to reach out for an official quote but no one was available from Delhi Police to comment on the matter.