Aug riots: Police probe foreign funding angle

The Special Investigating Team (SIT) probing the Azad Maidan riots case has intensified its efforts to investigate into foreign funding to the August 11 incident.

On the day, a rally organised at Azad Maidan to condemn the killings of Muslims in Assam and Myanmar turned into a huge law and order problem. The riots left two men dead and several, including policemen, injured.

The trips of the 17 organisers and speakers to foreign countries are also being probed. Their names have been mentioned in the FIR.

A source confirmed that many of the organisers and speakers had gone to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Gulf just before the August 11 violence.

The purpose of their visits is being investigated to find whether they are related to the riots in any way. “We are trying to find out the intention of their trips. It is important to rule out any connection that they might have with the riots,” an officer said.

The police are in the process of questioning those involved in the case. The crime branch also received information that the riots were funded by some  local miscreants. However, they refused to comment on it stating that the matter was under investigation.

Moreover, the 55 arrested persons have said that the meetings held before the riots were held outside with attendees given prior notice, and not in the offices of any Muslim organisation. The most important of these was held in Jogeshwari, where the meetings apparently went on for several hours at a stretch and people were provoked against the Muslim killings in Assam and Myanmar, a source said.

The arrested persons told the police that morphed videos (in the form of MMSs) of people being killed were circulated among the crowd to provoke them. Those invited to the meetings were mostly young boys.

It has been clearly mentioned that the riots were planned and that the group that came in towards the end was the one that started pelting stones at policemen and media.