Umar Khalid arrested in 2nd Delhi riots case, sent to 3-day custody

New Delhi: Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested former JNU student leader Umar Khalid in another case related to the February Northeast Delhi riots. Khalid has been booked in connection with the Khajuri Khas violence and taken into three days police custody by the Crime Branch, which has been probing riot-related cases, a senior officer said.

On September 24, Umar was sent to judicial custody till October 22 in the Delhi riots case.

He was arrested by Delhi Police's Special Cell on September 13 under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act after questioning him for over ten hours. 

Khalid is accused of hatching a criminal conspiracy to cause communal unrest by inciting people protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens.

On March 6, the FIR was registered against Khalid and a person identified as Danish based on information provided by an informer to Crime Branch Sub-Inspector Arvind Kumar.

According to FIR number 59/2020, complainant Arvind Kumar said that riots are a premeditated conspiracy. "The conspiracy was hatched by Umar Khalid and two others associated with different organisations," as per the FIR.

A case of rioting was registered at Khajuri Khas police station in which 15 people, including former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, were arrested for their alleged role in the riots that occurred at 2.15 pm on February 24 outside Hussain’s house in Chand Bagh.

Khalid has been in judicial custody in Tihar after he was arrested on September 13 under UAPA in a separate riots case. A Delhi court had sent him to judicial custody till October 22.