Delhi Violence: Death Count Rises To 53 In Riot-Hit Northeast District

The death count in the violence in the northeast district of the national capital has gone up to 53, hospital officials said on Thursday. The death count has risen after six more deaths were reported from Guru Teg Bahadur hospital reported on Thursday, taking the death toll from 38 to 44. “Death toll in Delhi violence rises to 53 (44 at GTB hospital, 5 at RML hospital, 3 at LNJP hospital & 1 at Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital),” reported ANI.

Among those who lost their lives in the violence is a Delhi police constable and a staff of the Intelligence Bureau. 

Meanwhile, cops are collecting and scrutinising hundreds of video footage of last week's communal clashes in the northeast parts of the city and also gathering mobile call and data records to identify those involved in the violence, officials said on Thursday.

With several people from riot-hit areas such as Jafrabad, Maujpur, Babarpur, Yamuna Vihar, Bhajanpura, Chand Bagh, Kardampuri and Shiv Vihar alleging the role of "outsiders" in the riots, two Special Investigation Teams (SITs) of the Delhi Police's Crime Branch have been formed to probe the violence.

The communal violence in northeast Delhi, which was sparked by protests over the amended Citizenship Act, has left 44 dead and over 200 injured. According to the police, 654 cases have been registered and 1,820 people either detained or arrested over the violence till Thursday evening.

"Northeast Delhi is a border area (close to Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh) and gathering mobile call and data records could be critical in identifying those involved in the violence and whether they were locals or as people in the neighbourhoods have been claiming -- outsiders," a senior Crime Branch officer told PTI.

According to the police, collecting mobile phone-related details is a common practice in investigations like these and this time it is being used to identify "outsiders".