Delhi riots: Woman accused of killing head constable Ratan Lal arrested from Noida, this is what happened

After more than two years of riots in northeast Delhi, a woman, accused in the killing of Delhi Police Head Constable Ratan Lal during the riots, has been arrested from neighbouring Noida in Uttar Pradesh. She was arrested on Thursday from Noida Sector-63. The 27-year-old woman has confessed the crime and disclosed that she had been actively involved in protests against CAA/NRC during riots in February 2020, police said

How did the police arrest the woman?

During technical surveillance, it surfaced that the mobile number of the accused was not in use, but on thorough analysing of the call details records, one mobile number of her close relative was found to be frequently calling customer care number of a particular company situated in Noida which created the suspicion, a senior police officer said.

On Thursday, a trap was laid near the area of Cogent building in Sector-63, Noida. Around 5.30 pm, the woman, resident of Subhash Mohalla, Bhajanpura, was arrested, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) Sanjay Kumar Sain said.

She confessed the crime and disclosed that during riots in February 2020, she had been actively involved in protests against CAA/NRC, police said. She fled her house and had been residing at different rented accommodations. During this period, she married to a person who arranged a job of a customer care executive for her at a Noida-based company, the DCP said.

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She further revealed that she never used her mobile phone and used only internet calling through applications. She had been using the customer care number to contact her relatives and family members, police said.

She was declared proclaimed offender on September 5, 2020 and carrying a reward of Rs 50,000, police added. According to police, Head Constable Lal, who was suffering from mild fever and was advised to take rest by his colleagues, joined duty in view of the grave tension in the area.

He helped the then DCP and ACP in pacifying the crowd and controlling it as the situation started heating up. He succumbed to 24 injuries he received while shielding officers when the crowd started attacking them.

Apart from Lal, the then Shahdara DCP Amit Sharma and then ACP Gokalpuri Anuj Kumar also sustained serious injuries, police said, adding 50 other policemen were also among the injured.

Earlier this month, police had said that a 33-year-old man was arrested from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh in connection with the incident. The accused, Mohd Wasim alias Bablu alias Salman, a resident of Chand Bagh, was declared a "Proclaimed Offender" by the Delhi High Court.

(With inputs from PTI)