The Delhi Police have obtained CCTV footage from the Jahangirpuri region of Delhi, where a Hanuman Jayanti procession was attacked on April 16. Some people can be seen gathering sticks in the clip the day before the incident.
The CCTV video was recorded somewhere around 2 AM on the 15th of April in Jahangirpuri. In the video, 4-5 young men can be seen gathering sticks from the streets in the neighbourhood. There appears to be opposition as well from the locals, which subsequently escalated into a minor skirmish. However, there has been no confirmation of the persons participating in the rioting, and the police are still investigating the matter.
The authorities are also trying to identify and locate people seen in the video.
Initially, police arrested 14 individuals for the rioting, including Aslam, who shot a Delhi Police Constable, and Anshar, the area’s supposed Muslim leader. Subsequently, members of the family that arranged the Hanuman Jayanti Shobha yatra were also apprehended.
On Monday, one Sheikh Hameed was also apprehended. He worked as a scrap dealer. During interrogation, he admitted to supplying the bottles used for pelting during the attack, further bolstering the theory that the attacks against the Hanuman Jayanti procession may indeed have been preplanned.
Yunus Imam alias Sonu Chikna, whose video of shooting bullets on the Hanuman Jayanti procession went viral earlier on Monday, was also apprehended by Delhi Police.
The attack on Hanuman Jayanti Shobha Yatra in Jahangirpuri
On Saturday (April 16), Islamists attacked a Hanuman Jayanti procession in Delhi’s Jahangarapuri locality. The procession was proceeding quietly, according to the FIR. When the procession arrived at the Jama Masjid in C Block at 6 p.m., a man named Anshar approached the procession with several of his friends and began an altercation.
The argument immediately turned into stone-pelting, culminating in a panic in the procession. According to the FIR, police sought to take control of the situation, but a select portion of the crowd ignored the commands and increased the sloganeering while burning down several vehicles. The mob continued to bombard the procession with stones and glass bottles. During the encounter, a police officer was also shot.
