Top-middle-foot soldiers: How the Delhi riots were orchestrated

New Delhi, Sep 17: The chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police in connection with the northeast Delhi riots suggest that there was a well-oiled mechanism that orchestrated the violence.

The police said that there were three levels of conspirators-top-level, middle-level and foot soldiers, who were the rioters. Submitting its chargesheet in the case, the police said that the evidence includes WhatsApp chats of February 24. That was the time that the violence took place and at that time the key conspirators were guiding the foot-soldiers about the violence in the area, the police further added.

Tahir Hussain, Md Parvez Ahmed, Md Iliyas, Saifi Khalid, Ishrat Jahan, Miran Haider, Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Shadab Ahmed, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Md Saleem Khan, and Athar Khan have been named in the chargesheet.

The name of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Ahmed are not part of the chargesheet as the arrests were made just a few days back. Their names would be in the supplementary chargesheet which the Delhi Police would file soon.

The conspirators used a WhatsApp group to incite the violence and a total of 25 groups were specially created for 25 protest sites. While the impression was given that the protests were about the amended citizenship law, in reality these conspirators were using the groups to guide people on the ground, the police further added.

Each of these chat groups had its own role in the conspiracy. While some groups have been deleted, others have been recovered and submitted as evidence. The police also said that the conspirators used code words within the groups to convey secret messages. They also gave hate speeches at Jafrabad Metro Station and were continuously present there till the last.