Jahangirpuri violence: Cops connecting missing dots after Imam's interrogation

New Delhi, April 21 (IANS) The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police is currently interrogating 28-year-old Imam alias Sonu alias Yunus who allegedly fired shots during the communal clashes in north-west Delhi's Jahangirpuri on April 16.

So far, according to sources, the accused has revealed the name of the man from whom he procured the weapon. The Crime Branch has got hold of the man named Ghulam Rasool, who allegedly supplied a pistol to Imam. Nothing has been learnt so far, however, the police are trying to connect the missing dots of their investigation into the Jahangirpuri violence.

Interrogation is currently going on to find out why Imam procured a pistol. The police are yet to furnish any details about it. Imam was arrested on April 18 from Mangal Bazar road, hardly a kilometre away from the place where he fired the shots during the violence. On April 19, the police had produced him before a local court which sent him to 4-day police custody.

Imam owns a chicken shop in the Jahangirpuri area. Earlier on April 17, a video went viral on social media showing a man wearing a blue kurta firing shots at a mob during the clashes in Jahangirpuri. The way he was directly shooting at the mob depicted the brutality of the alleged rioter, who, till that time, was unknown to the police. The riots took place on April 16 and the video was going viral on social media, hour after hour, putting pressure on the police to nab him.

The police, through local intelligence, identified the accused person as Imam alias Sonu alias Yunus, a resident of Jahangirpuri. After identification, on April 18 a team of the special staff of the North West district police went to C block Jahangirpuri in search of Imam at about 1.30 p.m.

When the police team reached the alleged shooter's house, his family members resorted to stone pelting. During the incident, Delhi Police Inspector Satender Khari sustained an injury on his right ankle when one of the stones hit him. Subsequently, the police registered a separate FIR under sections 186, 353, 332 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code at the Jahangirpuri police station and one of the relatives of the accused, identified as Salma, was bound down. In a case where a person is bound down, he/she is not booked under any legal provision but is released subject to the condition that he/she will appear before the police for further probe.

After this the police further widened its probe and on the same day in the evening, the accused was arrested. Special Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) Dependra Pathak had said that Imam's arrest was one of the most important developments. Since his video of the shooting went viral, he is being considered as the most dreaded of all the rioters.