“Kill Hindu Kaffirs, Will Get Jannat”: How Muslim Mobs Hunted For Hindus To Kill, Delhi Riots Chargesheet Reveals

The incidents of violence at Shiv Vihar Tiraha in East Delhi’s Karawal Nagar, one of the hotspots of riots which occurred on 24-25 February, were preplanned by local Muslims of the area, a chargesheet filed by Delhi Police claims.

“Lots of rioters from Muslim community took their position on the roof of Rajdhani School and threw petrol bombs and stones on the persons and properties of other party from a specially affixed iron catapult,” reads the chargesheet.

Anil Sweets Corner, situated opposite the school, became the first casualty as rioting started in the afternoon of 24 February.

A completely charred body of one employee, Dilber Negi, was recovered later in the night from the burnt premises.

Muslim rioters targeted other Hindu establishments at the Tiraha which included DRP Convent School and two parking lots at around 3 PM. Before that, at 1 PM, one Hindu man sustained gunshot injury.

Delhi Police arrested Rajdhani school owner Faisal Farooq on 10 March and he is presently in judicial custody.

Farooq is accused of hatching a conspiracy to precipitate riots by burning Hindu properties adjacent to his school.

At the Tiraha, one Salman was killed by gunshot wound at 5 PM.

Reading of multiple chargesheets and FIRs related to incidents that transpired at the Tiraha establish a chronology of events that reveal that at around 3 PM, Hindu mobs started countering Muslim rioters who had been active since afternoon.

Delhi Police has filed 10 FIRs in different incidents that took place at the tri-junction in Shiv Vihar on 24 and 25 February.

The first three incidents on 24 February have Hindus as victims while one has a Muslim victim. On the 25th, out of six incidents, two involve Muslims as victims, three Hindus were assaulted and one is on acid attack on SSB Jawans.

One of the chargesheets filed by Delhi Police and accessed by Swarajya relates to the murder of Veerbhan on the evening of 25 February. It not only establishes the chronology of events at Tiraha, which proves that the Muslim community initiated violence but also talks at length about the communal motivation of the rioters and their hatred for “Kaffir” Hindus.

Veerbhan was shot dead by someone who was part of a Muslim mob at 4:30 PM on 25 February.

He was riding the bike with his son sitting behind him. The bullet hit him in the head and is likely to have killed him instantly, as per the assessment of the doctor who conducted his autopsy.

During investigation, police tried to get their hands on any video footage from CCTV cameras in the establishments near the Tiraha, but found all of them damaged.

It was only able to make progress in the case after an eye-witness (also a resident of the area) came forward and not only told what he saw that day, but also identified some of the people who were part of the mob that killed Veerbhan.

They were his neighbourhood acquaintances: Mohammed Salman (son-in-law of a local cloth seller), Mohammed Arif (makes keys and locks), Javed Ali (deals in ladies’ purses), Ashraf Ali (sells clothes), Sonu Saifi (a welder) and Parvez (a puncture wala).

The eyewitness, telecom engineer, Ajay Kumar (name changed), was returning from his maternal aunt’s home to his own, which is near the Tiraha.

When he reached Hanuman Mandir, he spotted a Muslim mob gathering at the tri-junction which was coming from the Mustafabad area towards the Rajdhani School.

“They (the six named above) were inciting Muslims and hurling worst abuses at Hindus. Then I saw someone firing from the crowd and the bullet hit a person riding a bike which was coming from the Johripur side riding along the drain. There was a boy sitting in the back. Due to the bullet, bike fell and they both also fell there on the road. I couldn’t see the person who fired the shot but I saw Salman, Arif, Javed, Ali, Saifi and Parvez come forward from the crowd and hitting the fallen duo and anyone passing by with sticks, bricks, stones, and glass bottles. Later, I came to know that the person who died of gunshot was Veerbhan,” Kumar told the police.

After the incident, Kumar reached his home and didn’t come out until night when he decided to return to his aunt’s house. He saw the same people still part of the crowd that was rampaging in the area and raising communal slogans.

“Salman, Arif, Javed, Saifi, Ali and Parvez, along with their co-religionists, were shouting ‘kill Hindu kaffirs, we will get jannat (heaven). They were inciting the mobs by saying such hate-filled things. Just then, I saw Ashraf and others catching a man running in front of Hanuman temple. Salman, Javed Ali and Arif hit him with sticks, Ashraf and other boys with stones, Saifi and Parvez with bricks, stones and glass bottles due to which his head was split open. The badly injured person ran towards Mahavir Enclave where many people were present and applying bandages to the injured. I later came to know that he died and his name was Alok Tiwari. I somehow ran back and came to my neighbour’s house,” Kumar adds.

After Kumar’s testimony, police arrested four of them in March, April and May. Mohammad Arif and Javed Ali were still absconding at the time of filing of the chargesheet.

All four have accepted their involvement in the crimes committed by them on 24 and 25 February.

“I also got messages and videos on WhatsApp which were exhorting Muslims to gather and fight. All were saying that they will throw Muslims out of the country and let’s show these kaffirs the power of Muslims. Today, the whole world will see whatever work we do together because US President Donald Trump is in India,” accused Salman told the police.

“We were beating people up after asking each their name,” accused Mohammed Parvez confessed to the police while trying to lynch already dead Veerbhan, his surviving son and Alok Tiwari later in the night.

Sonu Saifi and Ashraf Ali also pleaded guilty to being part of the murderous mob on 24 and 25 February and lynching Alok Tiwari and Veerbhan. The police has found that Ashraf Ali was involved in more than nine riots cases at Shiv Vihar Tiraha.

Call records of all the four accused (part of the chargesheet and seen by Swarajya) places them at the scenes of murder of Veerbhan and lynching of Alok Tiwari at the time of crime.