Delhi Violence: Well-hatched conspiracy to take revenge on Muslims, youth worked as mob lost individuality, says Court

It is prima facie a “well-hatched conspiracy” and to take revenge on Muslims, some youths failed to perceive the “bottomless stupidity” of a propaganda and, as “saviours of their community”, created a WhatsApp group to work as a mob during the violence in northeast Delhi in February, said a court while taking cognisance of a chargesheet in a murder case.

Eleven people have been chargesheeted for allegedly murdering Aamir Khan, whose body was found in a nearby drain in the Gokulpuri area. The alleged murder took place on February 26 and came to the knowledge of police the next day when a body was found in the Bhagirathi Vihar nullah near Pulia.

“The group members... lost their individuality and started working with a mob mind,” observed chief metropolitan magistrate Purushottam Pathak. The court also highlighted that the “sacred” slogans raised by the accused had “deadened their minds and paralysed their creative nature”.

The court pointed out there were allegations of promoting enmity between groups on religious grounds.

“In a case where a group of people conspired, later assembled to take revenge and where the victims have been targeted on the basis of their religious identity, the relevant provisions of law attracting relevant offences should have been mentioned in the chargesheet,” it said, adding that no sanction had been taken from the state or central government in this regard.'

Khan’s last location was found to be near the nullah. The police said 27 riot-related PCR calls were made from the area. The probe also revealed three men, Mohit Sharma, Shivam Bhardwaj and Dimple Rai, were allegedly trying to snoop on the conversations of the investigating team.

The mobile phones of Sharma and Bhardwaj revealed they were members of a WhatsApp group, Kattar Hindu Ekta, which was created on February 25 for allegedly taking revenge on Muslims, police said.

The court underlined these men had acted in a planned manner to commit rioting, murder, dacoity and other offences, besides being instrumental for the gathering of an unlawful assembly.

“The mob turned into rioters and in process of rioting, they looted the mobile phone and caused death of Aamir by inflicting multiple injuries in a brutal manner,” the judge noted. To erase all evidence, “all of them, in furtherance of their common intention, threw his body in the drain,” he added.

“There cannot be any doubt that the accused, who killed Aamir Khan, were certainly up to their neck in the conspiracy and were thus very active members of the unlawful assembly,” the court added.

Lokesh Kumar Solanki, Pankaj Sharma, Sumit Chaudhary, Ankit Chaudhary, Prince, Rishabh Chaudhary, Jatin Sharma, Vivek Panchal and Himanshu Thakur have prima facie committed crimes under various IPC sections, including murder, joining unlawful assembly with deadly weapon, rioting and criminal conspiracy.

Pawan Kumar and Lalit Kumar were prima facie found to have committed the offence of dishonestly receiving property stolen during dacoity, while Pawan also faces the charge of disappearance of evidence.

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