New Delhi: Police have arrested a 29-year-old man, who along with his co-accused instigated the locals and pelted stones at police and participants of a Hanuman Jayanti procession in northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area in April.
The accused Sanwar Malik, hailing from Haldia in West Bengal, was wanted in the case in which a total of 38 arrests have been made so far, the Delhi Police said on Wednesday.
He was declared a “proclaimed offender” by a Delhi court and a reward of Rs 25,000 was also declared by the police on his arrest, it said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Vichitra Veer said that on Tuesday, a secret informer tipped off a police team about Malik’s presence in C Block 500 Wali Gali in Jahangirpuri.
The informer further said that if he is not apprehended this time, he will flee to Haldia.
“We deployed our team and tried to apprehend Malik, but the accused fled C Block and reached CD Block Jhuggi where he was caught. He tried to escape and the locals also tried to help him by throwing bricks at Head Constable (HC) Nitin. But, even after suffering injury, HC Nitin and HC Naval overpowered the accused and arrested him,” the DCP said.
Veer said the interrogation of the accused revealed that on the day of Hanuman Jayanti, he along with other co-accused instigated the public and pelted the “opposite party” and police staff deployed on duty with stones and glass bottles. He fled to West Bengal in a bid to evade his arrest after the violence.
A separate case under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against Malik and the locals involved in helping him on the complaint of HC Nitin Kumar, police said.
A ragpicker, Malik got involved in crimes like theft and was arrested for the first time in 2016 in an attempt to murder a case. He has previous involvements in six criminal cases, they said.
On April 16, communal clashes broke out on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti in Jahangirpuri. Nearly 8-9 people, including police personnel, were injured due to firing and stone pelting.
A 2,063-page charge sheet was filed by the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch last month against the 37 people arrested in the case.
