A Delhi Police Inspector attached to the Special Cell of the police force was found dead under suspicious circumstances in his car at Rampura main road in the National Capital’s Keshav Puram on Saturday.
The 47-year old police officer identified as Vishal Khanwalkar was a 1998-batch officer and was currently posted at the Special Cell’s Lodhi Colony office. According to Aaj Tak, he was also a part of the Northeast Delhi riots investigation team.
According to the latest reports, police received a call at 16:20 hours that an unconscious person was lying in a car at the Rampura main road, following which a police team reached the spot.
A senior police officer has said that it has been found that the car was parked near a shop in Rampura at around 11 AM.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest), Vijayanta Arya said, “He was taken to Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital in an ambulance where the doctors declared him dead.”
No external injuries have been found on Khanwalkar’s body, which has been sent for post-mortem and the cause of death can be established only after the post-mortem takes place.
Meanwhile, Arya has said, “All possible angles are being looked into.” It is relevant to mention here that the Northeast Delhi riots had ignited as anti-police riots after which they assumed the shape of a communal riot.
Anti-police sentiment along with communal bigotry was at the top of anti-CAA protests agenda, including at the Shaheen Bagh roadblock site from where provocative remarks were routinely made.
In fact, anti-CAA riots and vandalism that shook the nation a few months ago involved blatant violence against police officials in Delhi and several other cities.
Hate slogans against Police like “ye Jo dehshatgardi hai, ishke peeche vardi hai” were used extensively during anti-CAA protests.
The Delhi riots themselves were instigated by the brutal killing of Delhi Police Head Constable Ratan Lal after bullets were pumped into his body by rioters and vandals.
Acid was also thrown upon Paramilitary jawans during the riots, and a young IB staffer Ankit Sharma was ruthlessly stabbed several times before his body was discovered from a drain.
During the course of Investigation, several big names have surfaced in relation to anti-CAA violence in the country and riots in Delhi such as suspended AAP Councilor Tahir Hussain, Pinjra Tod– a far-left organisation, SIMI-affiliated Popular Front of India (PFI) and JMI student Safoora Zargar who has been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and has also been denied bail.
Delhi Police and the Special Cell has been facing criticism from the anti-CAA lobby which has cried foul over the arrest of Safoora Zargar. Moreover, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan has slammed Delhi Police for charge-sheeting of Tahir Hussain. He claims that Hussain has been targeted because he is a Muslim.
The stakes are high when it comes to Delhi riots investigation as an entire establishment consisting of political elements, fundamentalist organisations and influential leftist-protest bodies are involved.
