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 pre-planned 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.
Investigations at Shiv Vihar area in Karawal Nagar, one of the worst-affected localities in the city prove that Delhi anti-Hindu riots were pre-planned. In one of the congested lanes of the locality, DRP School stood in shambles.
Every inch of the building stood charred and every fan twisted and torn out of the ceiling. The laboratory was burnt down. The computers in the Department of IT smashed. Every bench for students was hurled in the central courtyard. The arsonists didn’t walk in from the gate as it was locked.
They climbed down an adjoining four-storey building of another school using ropes, which were over 40-feet long. They stayed there and had a meal before they destroyed the place.
The roof of the adjoining school shows that it was a virtual assault hub. We found multiple crates with a few bottles of Molotov cocktails or simply petrol bombs. There were two specially welded steel rods used as catapults – with large strips of rubber from truck tires. These were used to hurl petrol bombs, acid pouches and stones at targets in the neighbourhood. The catapult hit long distances exposing homes and shops in the neighbourhood.