Delhi riots: Shahrukh held from Shamli

Bareilly: A week after communal clashes rocked the national capital, the Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested Shahrukh, the man who pointed a pistol at a Delhi Police Constable during the recent violence in northeast Delhi’s Jafrabad on February 24.

The Delhi Police Crime Branch arrested the 33-year-old accused from Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli and he is now being brought to Delhi. According to media reports, Delhi Police will hold a press conference on the arrest at 3:30 pm today.

On February 25, news agency ANI had reported that the man, identified as Mohammed Shahrukh, was detained by the Delhi Police. However, the police later clarified that the man arrested was someone else and Shahrukh was still on a run. In a widely-circulated video, purportedly shot on February 24, the man can be seen brandishing his country-made pistol and pointing it on an unarmed Delhi Police personnel on the Jaffrabad-Maujpur road. He then fired several rounds in the other direction while the police official tries to stop him.

Around 200 FIRs have been lodged so far in this connection and out of these, 40 contain murder related sections. These FIRs include charges of instigating violence, arms act, attempt to murder, causing harm to government property and obstructing the government’s work.

Nearly 1,300 people have been arrested or detained so far in connection with the violence, which claimed 46 lives and left over 200 injured.

Authorities maintained that the situation remained calm in the area with no fresh violence for past five days, even as police arrested 40 people across the national capital for allegedly spreading false rumours of violence that had triggered panic in the city on Sunday night.