Delhi: Uneasy calm in violence-hit areas

An uneasy calm prevailed on Thursday in Seelampur in north-east Delhi, where largescale violence and police firing during a traders' bandh against the MCD's sealing drive claimed three lives.

A large number of police personnel, including from the Rapid Action Force, were still patrolling the Muslim-dominated locality as a precautionary measure even as buses and the Delhi Metro operated their services as usual.

Three persons were killed, two of them in police firing, when thousands of protestors went on a rampage pelting stones and attacking policemen on Wednesday and security men resorted to lathicharge, teargasing and firing.

Shops and business establishments were open and people were seen going about their daily chores. Vehicles were also plying as usual.

A peace rally was taken out by hundreds of locals late Wednesday night appealing for calm.

"The situation is peaceful now. People are returning to their daily life. But we are taking no chances and are maintaining heavy police presence there," Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-East) Devesh Srivastava, who was injured in the violence, told PTI.

The bodies of the three dead, identified as 15-year-old Mohd Ashraff, 27-year-old Wasiq and Manan in his late thirties, were kept at Guru Tejh Bahadur Hospital and post mortem would be conducted later on Thursday.

Police have arrested around 70 people in connection with the incident and registered seven cases under sections like indulging in rioting, assault on government servant and destruction of public property, Srivastava added.

Raids were also conducted all through the night to nab the anti-social elements who created the flare up. 

Meanwhile, two companies of the Border Security Force comprising nearly 250 jawans, have been deployed in Seelampur.

With the bodies of the dead to be handed over to the relatives after post mortem later in the day, the government is apprehending fresh outbreak of violence and the deployment of BSF is being seen as a precautionary measure.