ED told to probe Jahangirpuri violence suspect’s property sources

Noting remittances from abroad, the Delhi Police on Friday wrote to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) asking them to launch a money laundering probe into the sources of properties of Ansar Sheikh, the main accused in the communal clash following a Hanuman Jayanti procession at Jahangirpuri last week.

“He (Sheikh) reportedly owns a big mansion in Haldia (West Bengal) and does a lot of charity for his community. We suspect he frequently receives money from abroad via dubious channels...,” said a crime branch officer, asking not to be named.

“We can’t rule out a terror angle. We are also looking into his links with illegal Bangladeshi migrants as he reportedly has deep-rooted connections with people of Bangladesh, Assam, and Haldia... Jahangirpuri houses many Bangladeshi refugees. Taking cognisance of the timing and place of occurrence [of the violence], we cannot rule out his links with anti-national elements,” the officer added.

The officer said police are tracing Sheikh’s movements in the days leading to the clashes last week and examining his phone calls records.

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“We are examining the internet phone calls made from that particular location. We have asked for internet protocol detail records (IPDR) of at least few weeks before the communal violence erupted. Besides, the police will also examine the data available in the buffer zone of the service providers. These measures will give us a clear picture of who was involved directly or indirectly in the incident,” he said.

Sheikh, an scrap dealer, lives with his family in Jahangirpuri. Police have booked him and four others under sections of the National Security Act (NSA) after the violent clashes on April 16. In a first information report (FIR) filed in the case, police have claimed that Ansar and four-five other men in the area picked up a fight those part of the religious procession when it was passing near a mosque in C block at around 6pm. Police wrote in the FIR that the fight then snowballed into clashes.

HT could not contact Ansar’s family members on Friday as police had blocked the entry of outsiders to many houses in Jahangirpuri.

Ansar’s wife, Shakina Begum, in her interviews to reporters since the clashes last week, has denied her husband’s involvement in the violence. “He had stepped out to diffuse the tension between Hindus and Muslims in the area when the first reports of clashes came in. We are from a place near Kolkata and have been living here for the last 10 years. My husband was not involved in the violence. The allegations are wrong,” she had claimed.

Police have lodged seven FIRs related to the clashes and arrested 25 accused and apprehended three minors. Police have also identified 27 more accused involved in the clashes and said they will be arrested soon. “Four of them have been found involved in the crime. Right now, we are keeping a close tab as their activities and movements can provide a major breakthrough in the case. One of the prime accused is being interrogated,” an officer said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the police have installed adequate CCTV cameras in the area and started a temporary monitoring centre there to keep a close tab on the suspicious activities.