Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that the centre has received information that money that was used for Delhi violence had come from abroad and the rest of the country and was distributed before 24 February.

Speaking in Rajya Sabha, Shah said, “We have information from several agencies that money came from abroad and rest of the country and distributed in Delhi before 24 February morning. We started our preliminary investigation right away, but the riots happened. Five people have been arrested so far in this regard. There is a conspiracy behind these riots.”

The home minister also informed that incidents of using personal weapons came to light during the Delhi riots. “49 such cases have been registered and 52 people have been arrested. Out of the total weapons used during riots nearly a hundred weapons were found to be confiscated.” Shah also informed that 700 FIRs have been registered and more than 2,600 people arrested based on evidence.

As many as 1,922 rioters have been identified by using facial recognition software, he said, adding that driving licence, voter ID data are being used in the software. More than 40 special teams have been constituted to arrest those identified. Moreover, 50 serious cases of murder, attacks on religious places, hospitals, and educational institutions have been handed over to 3 SITs. The people who have been identified, whose details such as names, addresses and car numbers are with the government, were going to be arrested, Shah said.

- Advertisement -

Shah claimed that the authorities conducted meetings and requested religious leaders of various sect to call for stopping violence. “From the morning of February 25, a meeting of peace committees was commenced in every police station in Delhi. By calling a meeting of 321 peace committees by February 26, we requested religious leaders of every sect to use their influence to stop the violence. More than 40 special teams have been formed to apprehend rioters, which are working day and night to arrest the guilty,” Shah said.

“The culprits behind the killing of Constable Ratan Lal and IB Officer Ankit Sharma have been arrested while the investigations into the wider conspiracy are going on,” HM Amit Shah said.

As per the figures provided by Home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday in Lok Sabha, there are 52 people killed, 526 people injured, 371 shops are burnt and 142 homes were destroyed during the Delhi riots.