Delhi Riots: Police Set Up Two Crime Branch Special Teams To Probe Violence As Death Count Rises To 38

The Delhi Police on Thursday constituted two Special Investigation Teams (SIT) under the Crime Branch and transferred the probe into communal riots in the northeast district to them. The two teams have been formed under DCP Joy Tirkey and DCP Rajesh Deo. They will immediately take over the investigation of the cases connected with the northeast Delhi violence, in which over 30 people died, over the amended citizenship law. Additional CP Crime Branch BK Singh will supervise the work of the two teams.

On Thursday, the death toll in Delhi's worst riots in more than three decades climbed to 38 as the violence ebbed but did not subside completely and thousands of people began picking up the pieces of their shattered lives and livelihoods.

Four days after communal clashes that began in northeast Delhi over the amended citizenship law and spiralled into bloodshed, arson and looting, the body of a man was found in a drain in Johri Enclave and there were scattered incidents of vehicles and shops being set on fire in Maujpur, Bhajanpura and other areas.

Also Read | 'No Rioter From Whichever Party They Belong Should Be Spared': Arvind Kejriwal On AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain

While there was no precise figure for the number of arrests, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Delhi High Court that 48 FIRs were lodged in relation to the violence.

Also Read | Anti-CAA Protests: Police Seal Factory Belonging To AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain In Northeast Delhi

The GTB Hospital in Dilshad Garden, where many of the 200 injured in the riots that broke out on Monday are being treated and where scores of people lined up outside the mortuary to claim the bodies of their loved ones, recorded five more deaths.

"Besides, there was one more death at the LNJP Hospital and another in Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital, taking the total death toll to 34, seven more than the 27 reported on Wednesday," a senior Delhi Health Department official told PTI.

(With PTI inputs)