The anti-Hindu violence that was unleashed upon Delhi in the name of the anti-CAA protests have subsided, but fear is still ruling on the streets of Northeast Delhi. The residents are horrified at the images that have emerged after the fire and horror that reigned the localities for two days.
Startling facts are gradually coming to light while the Crime Branch investigates the riots. The violence-hit areas have thrown up some truly scary images. Several home-made weapons were used during the Delhi violence. As the ashes settle and dust clears, it is becoming increasingly evident that the Muslims in the area had prepared for the violence days, if not weeks in advance.
Of the several weapons and armaments used in the Delhi riots, the one that has been most damaging is reportedly the slingshot. In many areas, it is the slingshots that have inflicted the most damage, as compared to bullets and bombs.
The SIT investigating the Delhi violence has reportedly found slingshots mounted on the rooftop after every 10 or 15 houses. Police officials have stated that they have recovered hundreds of slingshots, of various sizes and style from houses in violence-hit areas. The houses in Mustafabad area have been found to have the most number of improvised slingshots. The police say that these slingshots, used to hurl stones and petrol bombs to a greater distance, have probably inflicted the most damage in the violence-hit areas.
Iron pieces, petrol bombs and bottles of acid have been hurled by using the slingshots. In Delhi’s Shiv Vihar area, a rickshaw had iron angles and rods welded on it, to make a creative design that can be used to store stones or petrol bombs and hurl them at the same time.
Like a handheld slingshot is used to hurl small pebbles and stones, these large slingshots have been used to hurl Molotov cocktails, acid bottles, iron pieces and big stones to inflict maximum damage in the surrounding areas.
Many twitter users have pointed out that similar devices are also used by terrorists in Syria.
The rickshaw mounted slingshot is being called a ‘mobile slingshot’. Stones and petrol bombs can be stored and moved easily while firing them from a greater distance inflicting greater damage by the Islamist mob.
Such rooftop-mounted slingshots have also been found at the house of AAP leader Tahir Hussain, who is now one of the main accused in the murder of IB sleuth Ankit Sharma.
As per the latest reports, the Delhi riots have claimed more than 40 lives. Several hundred people, including dozens of policemen, have been injured. Delhi police’s head constable Ratan Singh and IB sleuth Ankit Sharma have been brutally murdered by the Islamist mob. DCP Shahdara Amit Sharma was seriously injured when the violent mob had attacked him and set his car on fire.
The SIT is probing a larger conspiracy behind the Delhi riots, hatched over a prolonged period. In many areas, such improvised slingshots were also found attached to fences, or trees, pointing towards a detailed and organised preparation.
