How can Delhi Police Commissioner be so sure in denying the flag incident prior to Jahangirpuri clashes?
New Delhi, April 18 (Delhi Crown): During his first interaction with the Press over Saturday’s Jahangirpuri clashes, Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana on Monday replied to a number of questions saying “it’s a matter of investigation”, and that it could be answered only after the probe is over.
But he seemed so sure, and too confident, about the incident wherein some miscreants from the Shobha-Yatra procession allegedly tried to hoist a flag at the Masjid, which actually led to arguments and subsequently the violent clashes.
Replying to a pertinent question if an attempt (by those taking out the Shobha-Yatra procession) was made by some to put up a flag at the Masjid, Asthana flatly refused, saying – “No, this is not true”.
Sounding quite strange, how could the Delhi Police Commissioner be so sure about such an incident not happening?
To a number of questions raised by the media persons, Asthana replied saying “it’s a matter of investigation”. But when it came to the alleged attempts made to put up a flag at the Masjid, the Delhi Police Commissioner confidently denied any such incident!
Wondering, why Asthana didn’t reply to this question too by saying “it’s a matter of investigation”?!
The second aspect where the Commissioner of Police seemed floundering was about the number of cops deployed to man the Shobha-Yatra. He perhaps tried his best to portray that enough cops were on duty to man the procession through an area which has been quite criminally sensitive in the past.
While one of injured cops told a TV channel that there were hardly 15 cops, led by a Sub-Inspector rank officer, deployed to manage the Shobha-Yatra comprising over 1600 people, the CP appeared satisfied over the numbers, as he said “the number of cops was adequate”.
Without quantifying the strength of police personnel deployed to escort the Shobha-Yatra procession, Asthana maintained – “An adequate number of cops were deployed to manage the Shobha-Yatra. Our cops did a splendid job by intervening when arguments broke out between the two groups and amicably handled the situation by separating both of them.”