Riots had Assam connection: ASG to top court

THE protests against the CAA in the national capital were aimed at regime change like Bangladesh and Nepal, the Delhi Police told the Supreme Court on Friday while opposing bail plea of activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others in the February 2020 Delhi riots case.

- SUCHITRA KALYAN MOHANTY

The conspirators — Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid and others — planned violence, organised chakka jams to disrupt and “choke Assam out of India,” and further mobilised rioters armed with sticks, who engaged in heavy stone-pelting, the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, for the Delhi police, told the Supreme Court's two-judge bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria.

“Delhi riots are the result of a conspiracy involving several accused, including Tahir Hussain, Shifa Ur Rahman, Meeran Haider, Ishrat Jahan and Khalid Saifi,” he said.

Raju further alleged that the accused were illegally involved in financing the 2020 Delhi riots violence and thereby their bail plea should be rejected.