NEW DELHI: An indefinite curfew was imposed in the Seelampur area of East Delhi and paramilitary forces conducted flag marches following communal clashes that left at least five people dead and about 85 injured.

Twenty policemen including Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Ujjwal Mishra were among those injured.

More than 100 people have been arrested in connection with the riots and a large cache of unlicensed arms has been recovered from the unauthorized colony which witnessed a major communal flare-up for the first me.

Delhi Police Commissioner M.B.Kaushal said the Crime Branch had been asked to ascertain the cause of the riots and added that many theories on the cause of the riots were doing the rounds.

Meanwhile security has been tightened all over the Capital especially in sensitive and riot-prone areas. Prohibitory orders have been imposed in Gandhinagar Krishnanagar Welcome Colony and Seelampur police areas.

Meanwhile about 50 BJP workers including B.L.Sharma “Prem” Lok Sabha member from the area and Delhi BJP chief O.P.Kohli were detained by the police when they tried to forcibly enter the riot-torn colony.

Kaushal said the BJP MP wanted to visit the riot-affected areas along with his supporters though the police had warned him against it. Sharma was taken to the Shahdara police station.

He said that Ahmed Bukhari the Naib Imam of Jama Masjid also wanted to visit the spot but was prevailed upon by the police not to do so in the interests of peace.

The Police Commissioner who visited the riot-affected areas visited the area again.

He said the police presence in the area had been beefed up following the riots. As many as five companies of the Delhi Armed Police in full riot gear were deployed in the area.

Kaushal said his immediate action after restoration of normalcy would be to set up communal harmony committees.

The Old Seelampur area is one of the most communally-sensitive pockets of the Capital and police have issued dozens of cautionary reports stressing the need for greater vigilance.

Two companies of the BSF deployed in the area after the clashes — staged flag marches.

Briefing newspersons who visited the spot Kewal Singh Additional Deputy Police commissioner (North East District) described the situation as “tense normal.” He said no fresh incident had been reported.

He said that though the cause of the communal flare-up was not known police were working on many theories.

According to one theory tens) had been mounting in the area after a six-year-old girl belonging to one Community was raped b boy belonging to another community.

Some people had visited the parents to sympathize with them. On their way back they picked up a fight with member of the other of clashes.

Another theory was that one Mahmood a former police head constable and his men wanted to set a shop vacated by a certain Ved Prakash and his associates.

This led to a clash between them and later widespread violence broke out in which firearms were freely used by members of the two communities from rooftops.

Kewal Singh said the miscreants burnt down at least 12 shops in the area and also destroyed some Public property. He said the injured had been admitted to the Sri Gun Teg Bahadur Hospital where the condition of some of them was stated to be serious.

Meanwhile, a committee of citizens of the area had been formed to make effort for restoring peace.

Kewal Singh said one of those killed had received stab and burn wounds.

Article extracted from this publication >> May 29, 1992