NEW DELHI : Facts about the communal conflagration at Trilokpuri that are emerging gradually reveal how anti-social elements used a scuffle between two groups of people to their advantage. They managed to orchestrate full-fledged riots by spreading false rumours. This, along with the overnight mobilization of hundreds of armed men, has lefts cops with the task of establishing if there was any political hand in the entire episode.

Police have secured mobile and CCTV footage showing some men from the minority community opening fire with pistols. They are joined by youths, wearing skull caps and helmets, who are throwing stones and bottles at people. The videos have been shot by residents who have handed it over to police. This captures the activities of only one group. It gives no clue about what the group confronting them was doing.

The seven people who have sustained gunshot injuries are Hindu and include a teenager who is said to be serious, the source said. Cops are yet to establish who shot them.

Sources in the investigation team told TOI that the group which initiated the scuffle at ‘Mata ki chowki’ on Diwali night comprised three Muslim and two Hindu friends who were consuming liquor inside a car parked there.

As tension had been simmering for sometime, some people from the chowki asked the youths to drink somewhere else. This annoyed the youths and a brawl ensued. The friends were seen hurling abuses and running towards the mosque, which is at a stone’s throw away. One of them tossed a liquor bottle towards the Jagran site while running away.

This led to a round of stone-pelting between the two groups who were in no time joined by a group comprising locals and a few history-sheeters who took over from them and gave the incident a communal colour, the probe has found.

While the five friends have been absconding since that night, cops have identified the “bad characters” from different parts of Delhi, east Delhi in particular. One of them, identified as Irfan, and a few of his associates have been arrested.

Irfan, police said, has several cases of assault, attempt to murder, rioting and robbery lodged against him. His brother, Imran, was also a part of the mob that incited people and attacked cops and has been absconding since then. Their father, Ismail, has been detained for questioning, sources said.

Police sources and locals who witnessed the outbreak of the violence confirmed that over 500 people were mobilized overnight after the initial rounds of stone-pelting in Block No. 21. The miscreants swiftly entered other blocks with concocted stories about an attack on the mosque, the Jagran donation box being looted and the chowki being disrupted. Soon, the violence had spread to other blocks.

The two key conspirators, who are alleged to have initiated the riots, have been identified as Zafar and Mobin. Both are criminals with cops having dossiers on them. Mobin is alleged to have indulged in heavy stone-pelting soon after the scuffle from the rooftop of his house. Apart from these four men, several others have been identified by the police and are being tracked down. Mobin was last reported to be at a local hospital getting his wounds bandaged but fled by the time the cops woke up to his presence.

Sources said at least four different gangs were at work on October 23. They were assisted with arms and other logistics to carry out violence for the next 24 hours. The gangs comprise both Muslim and Hindu men having several cases pertaining to heinous crimes registered against them in police stations of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, they said. Their antecedents and political affiliations are being ascertained.

The involvement of criminal gangs also indicate that had police not taken swift action after Diwali night, the Trilokpuri riots could have caused many casualties and the situation could have deteriorated even further, a member of the local peace committee said. People are insisting on police presence being stepped up for the next one week.

