Will not spare anyone involved in Delhi riots: Shah
| Date :12-Mar-2020 |
NEW DELHI :
VOWING not to spare anyone involved in the Delhi riots irrespective of their religion, caste or party affiliation, Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said it will be lesson for the country on what befalls those who indulge in rioting. Replying to a discussion in Lok Sabha on the Delhi riots, Shah said prima facie the violence appears to be a pre-planned conspiracy. Facing Opposition criticism over alleged inaction by the Delhi police during the violence last month, Shah appreciated the police for not allowing the riots to spiral. While expressing grief over the death of people in the violence, Shah said the Delhi police succeeded in controlling riots within 36 hours.
He said that a total of 2,647 people have been detained or arrested. No one involved in the Delhi riots would be spared irrespective of their religion, caste or party affiliation, he said and stressed that it is also being ensured that “no innocent is harassed”. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval visited riot- affected areas on my request to raise morale of the Delhi police, Shah said. “We wanted discussion on Delhi violence after Holi to avoid communal flare up during festival time,” he said.
The Opposition in Lok Sabha on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah for failing to contain the violence in Delhi for nearly three days, even as the BJP accused the Opposition of politicising the situation to further its narrow interests. As the Government came under attack from the opposition during the debate on the recent communal riots in the national capital that have claimed over 50 lives, the BJP members alleged that the violence was a pre-planned conspiracy and the Home Minister and authorities took pro- active steps to control the situation.
The ruling party said evidence show that stones and petrol bombs were stored in huge quantity to fuel the violence. AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said there is a “tsunami of Hindutva hate” and called for an impartial probe to find the perpetrators of the violence. Some of his remarks evoked sharp response from the Treasury benches, with at least two Union Ministers -- Ravi Shankar Prasad and Kishan Reddy -- registering their protests. Speaker Om Birla also expunged certain remarks made by Owaisi. BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi alleged that some people are taking political benefit out of the incidents of violence. Referring to the killing of IB officer Ankit Sharma during the riots, she said 400 wounds were found on his body. “What kind of hatred was this... We should discuss that also,” she said, adding the riots were pre-planned. She also alleged that stones and catapults were found in the house of an AAP councillor and hate speeches were given by an MLA of the party.
ED books Tahir Hussain, PFI for money laundering
NEW DELHI :
THE Enforcement Directorate has booked suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain, Islamist group PFI and some others on charges of money laundering and alleged funding of the recent riots in Delhi, officials said on Wednesday. They said a criminal case against Hussain, facing charges of killing an Intelligence Bureau official during the riots in northeast Delhi last month, has been filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the central probe agency.
Similar charges have also been pressed against the Popular Front of India (PFI) which is already facing a separate PMLA probe. Hussain is in the custody of Delhi Police at present. The officials said the federal agency has taken cognisance of a clutch of FIRs filed by Delhi Police’s Crime Branch to probe the alleged money laundering and routing of illegal funds by Hussain, PFI and others to purportedly sponsor the communal riots that killed over 50 people.