Delhi riots toll reaches 43; over 100 cases lodged

New Delhi, Feb. 28 (IANS): As the number of deaths in violence in northeast Delhi has reached to 43, Special Commissioner of Police SN Shrivastava on Friday said that normalcy has been returning in riot-hit areas and the police have registered over 100 cases so far.

During inspection of affected areas, Shrivastava, who will hold additional charge of Delhi Police Commissioner from March 1, said that no untoward event has happened in the city since last 60 hours in the city.

He said that 331 peace committee meetings have been held in the last two days to restore law and order. He said that the police also have registered more than 100 cases pertaining to riots and murders and two SITs have been formed under Crime Branch.

Shrivastava refused to comment on any specific case but assured that anyone who is culprit and participated in riots will not be spared.

The officer said that the killing of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma is certainly a very bad case but the police has been giving equal importance to other violent incidents in which various people killed and injured.

“We have been appealing people to send videos and footage related to the violence on a WhatsApp number we have provided so that those can be used as evidence.”

About future action, he said that police investigation is on a positive note and the main objective is to instil a feeling of security in people.

“Police is for the help of people,” he said even as prohibitory orders were relaxed for 10 hours on Friday in view of improvements in the ground situation in the riot-hit northeast districts.

Areas under 12 of the 203 police stations in Delhi (about 4.2% of the geographical area) were affected in the violence that began on February 23 evening and continued for a couple of days.