Recounting the horror of the January 26 violence, the Delhi Police informed a local court here on Tuesday that during where 100s of policemen were severely injured and “a CISF personnel was hit on the face with a sword”.
The submissions from the Delhi Police came in while Deep Sidhu, one of the alleged perpetrators of the violence, was produced before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Prigya Gupta.
“More than 140 police personnel were injured during the violence that day, one of the men from CISF was hit with a sword on his face by the rioters,” the investigating officer said.
It was further told by the police Sidhu was one of the “main rioter” and “instigator” and has also led the mob at Red Fort along with his accomplice Jugraj Singh, the man who hoisted a flag at Red Fort.
The mob after Sidhu’s instigation turned violent as a result of which many were injured and public property was damaged, the police said.
The protesters were armed with lathis, flags, swords etc and they also tried to steal the weapons of the security personnel, the police submitted while requesting for 10-days police custody.
However, advocate Abhishek Gupta, appearing for Sidhu, strongly opposed the submissions made by the prosecution and opposed the request of police custody remand.
“The only acquisition against my client is that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Gupta told the court.
He also said that the recoveries in the case are mostly videos and CCTV footages and the same are already with the police and there would no use for such a long custody.
Following, these arguments, the bench questioned police to justify its demand of 10 days custody.
Responding to the court’s query, the police said that Sidhu had gone to various places and the vehicle on which he came to the protest site is yet to be recovered.
“We have to identify his supporters. We also have to recover various mobile phones, one of them have been thrown near Patiala by them,” Public Prosecutor Raunaq appearing for police told the court.
During the course of arguments, the court asked the police as to how Sidhu was arrested by it. “He was arrested after an initial input to the Special Cell that he would be coming to Karnal,” the police replied.
The court has now sent Sidhu to a police custody of 7 days and he would now be produced before the court on February 16.
Siddhu was arrested by the South Western Range (SWR) of the Special Cell and the police has alleged that Sidhu was a prominent player behind Republic Day violence and accused of instigating youngsters with his provocative speeches and stardom.
The Delhi Police had named Sidhu and gangster Lakka Sadana in an FIR lodged in connection with the Red Fort incident. According to the FIR, he was present at the Red Fort when a religious flag and a farmer flag were put at the flagpole at the historic monument, triggering massive outrage. Over 500 police personnel were injured and one protester died, the police said.
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The police said they have started the process of identifying the co-conspirators in the incident of violence on Republic Day. In the FIR registered in connection with the Red Fort violence, police said two magazines with 20 live cartridges were snatched from two constables by protesters, who also damaged vehicles and robbed anti-riot gear.