The Delhi Police has identified three of the policemen who allegedly forced five men injured during the Northeast Delhi riots last year to recite the national anthem. The incident had been captured on video, with one of those injured later dying. The three personnel, posted with the Delhi Armed Police, will be put through a lie-detector test, sources said.
The special investigation unit of the Crime Branch questioned more than 100 police personnel and scanned a number of documents, including duty charts of the policemen deployed from outside during the riots. “Almost after 17 months, police have zeroed in on three policemen, and senior officers have been informed. A lie-detector test will be conducted on them after taking their consent,” a senior officer said.
As reported by The Indian Express earlier, what made the police task arduous was that the location where the incident took place on February 25 last year, 66 Foota Road, was surrounded by three to four police station areas, and personnel from there too had been deployed to control the riots.
“While scanning a video recorded from afar, investigators noticed that one of the personnel was carrying tear smoke munitions (TSM). Whenever any force goes out for deployment, personnel are issued TSM under their name from their units. The investigating officer checked the register of forces from outside the area to verify entries made while issuing TSMs that day. On the basis of the footage and one of the entries, they first identified a personnel posted with the DAP. He was called in for questioning and later his two colleagues were summoned by the SIT to their office in Darya Ganj,” said an officer.
The youth caught on video being forced to sing Jana Gana Mana as well as Vande Mataram and who later died was identified as Faizan, a resident of Kardam Puri. He had died at hospital a day after his release from Jyoti Nagar Police Station, where he had been taken by police. Families of two of the other men seen in the video had told The Indian Express that the video was shot at Kardam Puri, on the evening of February 24.
The Delhi Police had deposed before the Delhi High Court that CCTV cameras at Jyoti Nagar Police Station were not working between February 24 and March 4 due to technical reasons, and that there was no tampering involved.
This story first appeared on indianexpress.com