Argument between 2 groups led to Jahangirpuri clash: FIR

One of the alleged main conspirators behind the Saturday Jahangirpuri clash had an argument with participants of the Hanuman Jayanti procession that escalated and led to stone pelting, according to an FIR.

However, 35-year-old Ansar's wife claimed that her husband is innocent and had gone to stop the situation from going out of control.

The argument took place when the procession reached in front of the C-Block mosque in Jahangirpuri around 6 pm, the FIR, registered at the Jahangirpuri police station, stated.

Ansar, a resident of Jahangirpuri, has been found to be previously involved in two cases of assault, and he was also arrested repeatedly under preventive sections and booked five times under the Gambling Act and the Arms Act, according to police.

He had gone to Wazirabad to buy a laptop and had asked "me around 6:30 pm to keep food ready as he was hungry", Sakina claimed.

When he returned from Wazirabad and "by the time, I went inside (to get his food), he got a call and told me to keep it away as a huge fight had erupted. He said he needs to be there to stop the situation from going out of control or else people would die. He rushed to the spot without his mobile phone and now, they (police) have made him the culprit", the mother of five said.

Ansar's wife told reporters that the procession had passed peacefully through the same route twice before, but the third time when they took out the procession, it was time to open 'Roza'.

"They came with a plan, or how else would they have sticks, bottles and other things to get into a fight. When they reached in front of the mosque, they were asked to lower the noise but they still continued. My husband also suffered an injury," she said.

"He was hit with a bottle in front of a policeman....My husband is innocent. This is a conspiracy to trap him," Sakina said.

According to the FIR, the procession, which started at 4:15 pm from the EE-Block in Jahangirpuri and moved through BJRM Road, K-Block and BC Market, was passing through these areas peacefully and on the decided route.

But, around 6 pm, when it reached outside a mosque, the accused, Ansar, came there along with four to five other people and started arguing with the procession's participants, it stated.

The argument soon turned violent and members of two communities started pelting stones at each other, the FIR stated.

The Delhi Police has arrested 21 people over the violence, including the "main conspirators" behind the clashes, officials said.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of Inspector Rajiv Ranjan Singh and he has stated that he along with his team tried to pacify the situation and had separated both the groups.

However, after sometime, they again started pelting stones at each other after which he informed the Police Control Room about the development, the complainant said.

According to the FIR, soon after this, more police personnel reached the spot along with senior officials, but by that time, the crowd had turned violent and hurled stones on police personnel and also fired at them in which a sub-inspector suffered a bullet injury to his left hand.

Eight police personnel sustained serious injuries, police said.

Police had to fire 40-50 tear gas shells to contain the violence and disperse the crowd as one particular community had been pelting stones constantly despite appeal by senior officers to stop and maintain peace, the FIR stated.

Amid the violence, one scooty was torched and five-six cars were vandalised, it said.