Delhi Police recently filed a charge sheet in connection will the killing of head constable Ratan Lal during the violence that swept northeast Delhi in February this year. The police, in its charge-sheet, had stated that the murder of Ratan Lal was a part of a deeper conspiracy to gin up communal riots across the national capital.
The Special Investigation Team of Delhi Police has filed a 1,100-page charge-sheet in the murder of Ratan Lal and deadly attacks by rioters on IPS Amit Sharma and IPS Anuj Kumar. At least 17 accused have been named in the charge-sheet. There are about 4 to 5 key conspirators in this whole case, which includes Salim Khan, Salim Munna and Shadab. The police stated that the riots were engineered in Delhi through a conspiracy to malign the image of the country.
There were several other extremely disturbing details that emerged from the charge sheet, a part of which has been accessed by OpIndia. One name which has been mentioned in the charge sheet multiple times is that of one DS Bindra. In February, social media posts went viral praising ‘generosity’ of a Sikh man, one ‘Advocate D S Bindra’ who ‘sold his flat’ to fund ‘langar’ (community kitchen often in Gurudwara) at Shaheen Bagh.
India Today headlined its article about DS Bindra by declaring that he was serving humanity.
He was also glorified by Shaheen Bagh Twitter handle and used to claimed solidarity between Islamists and Sikhs.
Muslims, Dalit and Sikh have come together under the banner of MIM BHIM Khalsa.
— Shaheen Bagh Official (@Shaheenbaghoff1) January 17, 2020
Shri D.S Bindra along with the sikh community organise a langar at Shaheen bagh every night.Listen to what he has to say#ShaheenBaghProtest #ShaheenBagh #unityindiversity#सलाम_महिला_शक्ति_शाहीनबाग pic.twitter.com/XaHBSr9CDz
This claim by DS Bindra had gone viral and unsurprisingly, the media had picked up these claims and glorified him for this ‘selfless act’. Aaj Tak and Lallantop while glorifying him, however, forget to mention two important aspects:
- DS Bindra was an AIMIM leader
- As per media reports, Bindra had also been instrumental in leading anti-CAA protests at Delhi’s Mustafabad and Khureji.
That Bindra was a leaded of AIMIM and was also leading the anti-CAA protests at Mustafabad should have sent alarm bells ringing, however, the media had found their hero through whom the Islamists could be whitewashed and they hanged on to him.
Now, it appears that DS Bindra has been named in the charge sheet filed by the Delhi Crime Branch as one of the key people who instigated the mobs that eventually murdered constable Ratan Lal during the anti-Hindu riots in Delhi.
What the chargesheet said about DS Bindra
The charge sheet said beat officers were regularly deployed in the area of the protest to ensure that no law and order situation arose. After the murder of Ratan Lal, two beat officers were also questioned and their statements recorded to ascertain facts. They revealed that Salim Khan, Salim Munna, D.S Bindra, Suleman Siddqui, Ayub, Athar, Shahdab, Upasna, Ravishand others were organizers of the protest site. At the site, provocative statements inciting Muslims were made every day. The charge sheet specifically mentions that according to the beat officers, the riot at this site was the handiwork of D.S Bindra, Salman Siddiqui, Salim Khan, Salim Munna, and Athar etc in cahoots with local rioters.
The charge sheet further mentions categorically, “The accused persons further combinedly disclosed that along with them D.S Bindra, Dr. Rizwan, Athar, Shahdab, Upasna, Tabbsum, Ravish and others were involved in the conspiracy behind the ChandBagh riots”.
Further, arrested accused Shahanawaz and Ibrahim “disclosed that the riots were a part of a conspiracy hatched by the organiser namely DSBindra, Dr Rizwan, Suleman (Salman), Saleem Khan, Saleem Munna and others with the help of others”.
Another accused, Mohd Saleem Khan (Organiser of the Chand Bagh protest) had revealed that about two months ago, DS Bindra had started community kitchen at service road, Wazirabad road, ChandBagh. Because of the community kitchen, a rather large crowd used to assemble there. He, along with Salman Siddiqui, Dr Rizwan, Salim Munna and others used to visit the community kitchen. DS Bindra instigated him and other Muslims to oppose CAA/NRC strongly and he stressed that people should come on the road to show their dissent.
The chargesheet also categorically states that the conspirators “were fully aware that violence may ensue and had accordingly directed the protestors to arm themselves”.
Further, the chargesheet says, “On 23.02.2020 the above said accused persons along with other organizers, conspirators and rioters convened a meeting at Chand Bagh and asked the residents to equip themselves with iron rods, Dandas, Petrol Bombs etc for the next day. On 24.02.2020 at around 1 pm as per plan the riots erupted and the protestors attacked the police personnel. Numbers of police personnel were injured and HC Ratan Lal was killed”.
People from the Muslim community which included women and children also used to gather in huge numbers. During the protest, hate speeches and instigating messages were conveyed from the stage through the mic. On 23/02/2020, the situation became tense after stone-pelting took place in Jafrabad, another site of CAA/NRC protest. On 24/02/2020, he, along with his associates and residents of ChandBagh planned to block the road and decided that in case police would intervene they would assault them too. Owing to this, he, along with his associates and local residents visited the protest site carrying sticks, Iron rods, petrol bombs, acid, stones, arms etc. In order to instigate the protesters at the protest site, hate speeches were being delivered since morning.
Beat officials from PS Dayalpur had come to the stage to call them for a discussion but they were forced to leave the protest site. They all tried to block the main Wazirabad road and when police asked them to retreat, the fully prepared crowd assaulted and lynched police officials mercilessly. The protesters snatched the tear gas shells and sticks from the police officials. In a planned manner, the CCTVs installed near the protest site were damaged before the assault upon police officials. They burnt the shops, vehicles and houses.
Further, the charge sheet says, “These are the persons who laid the foundation of the protest site. They met local people, organized meetings initially with them, made them believe that they are in a predicament and provided the initial spark. These included politicians, members of organizations like AISA, JCC etc. In the present case, D S Bindra is one of the conspirators. It has been revealed that he put up a community kitchen “Langar” at Chand Bagh at first. He was joined by some local residents whom we may term as Local organizers. Conspirators were in frequent touch with the local organizers since the inception of the protest site till the violence broke out on 24/02/2020”.
In the chargesheet, other than Ratan Lal who was mercilessly lynched and killed by the rioters, 49 other police officials who were injured in the riots were listed.
Ratan Lal’s murder was a deeper conspiracy
Constable Ratan Lal was murdered on February 24 when he was shot at by rioters while patrolling along with his seniors. The police had alleged in the charge-sheet that a group of 45 people held a meeting at the basement of a house on February 22, where the conspiracy of the riot was conceived. On February 23, after the conspiracy was hatched, rioters asked senior citizens and children to stay indoors as they ran riot on the streets, indulging in vandalism.
A day later, on February 24, rioters and vandals again hit the streets, damaging public properties, setting vehicles on fire and causing bloodshed. Around 1 PM in Chand Bagh area, patrolling party in Chand Bagh was vastly outnumbered by a huge crowd of rioters. Senior police officials tried to placate the riotous mob but the crowd turned violent and attacked police. Head constable Ratan Lal was shot dead by the rioters. Amit Sharma, Anuj Kumar and several policemen received serious injuries, the charge-sheet said.
While police head constable Ratan Lal died of bullet injuries in Chand Bagh region, IB sleuth Ankit Sharma(26) was brutally stabbed by a violent mob sheltered inside AAP councillor Tahir Hussain’s house. Sharma’s body was recovered from a ditch in the Chand Bagh area.
