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Expect to catch IB staffer Ankit Sharma killers from crowd-sourced video: Amit Shah

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By
Mar 11, 2020 10:32 PM IST

Shah, who was responding to a discussion on the Delhi riots last month that left 52 dead, said the police had received an overwhelming response to its appeal for video footage of the riots.

Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma’s brutal murder may have been captured in one of the thousands of video clips that have reached Delhi Police in response to an appeal by the police, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday.

Shah, who was responding to a discussion on the Delhi riots last month that left 52 dead, said the police had received an overwhelming response to its appeal for video footage of the riots.

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“I am hopeful that the mystery behind Ankit Sharma’s murder would be unravelled by one of the video clips shot by people during the riots,” the home minister told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday evening. Ankit Sharma, 26, who was killed during the communal riots, had at least 50 stab wounds. His face and other body parts had been burnt to conceal his identity.

Ankit Sharma was fished out of a drain in east Delhi’s Chand Bagh after some residents alerted the police.

Amit Shah had heard several lawmakers from opposition parties express concern over the police probe. Some had also suggested that the probe might target one community.

Shah made a pointed reference to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi complaining that 1,100 Muslims had been detained by the police. Shah, who had praised the police for ensuring that the riots remained limited to parts of north-east Delhi, said the police had registered 700 cases and arrested or detained nearly 2,600 people.

Experts on 25 computers are analysing the video clips that have been received from the public.

Shah explained that the police were using face recognition software to identify the rioters from the clips. This is being done by accessing photographs of individuals from databases of the Election Commission’s voter ID card, driving license and from other government departments.

“This software does not see a person’s religion, does not go according to the person’s clothes… but only sees the face,” he said.

So far, the police has been able to identify 1,100 people and establish that 300 people came from across the border with Uttar Pradesh. Shah said the police had sought data of photographs from neighbouring UP too to identify the 300-odd rioters who had entered the national capital before the border was sealed.

Amit Shah’s detailed response on the Delhi riots is his first detailed comment about the violence that engulfed Delhi last month. Shah also asserted that the deadly rioting during February 24-25 was a “pre-planned conspiracy” and those guilty, regardless of their religious faith, caste or party affiliation, would not be spared.

Shah said 52 people were killed, 526 were injured, 371 shops were burnt and 142 homes were destroyed in the riots.

Shah also promised to take example-setting punishment for the culprits but stressed that no one would be arrested without “staunch evidence”. “There is prima facie evidence that the riots were a pre-planned conspiracy and the police are unearthing proof of this. The guilty, whoever he may be, will be arrested,” the home minister said.

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