At least 45 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses were damaged in the violence on Republic Day as section of farmers, who deviated from the agreed route for the tractor parade and entered the city, clashed with the police, an official said.
"As of now, I can only say that information we have received that 45 buses got damaged in Tuesday's protest. A meeting of senior officials is scheduled to review the matter," official at the DTC head office told IANS.
Asked if the DTC has estimated the total loss of revenue due to damage of buses or will seek recoveries of its damage, the official said: "A meeting is scheduled for a review on total loss of busses and then only would I be able say what further action is to be taken."
On Tuesday evening, the DTC had said that six buses were damaged by protesters, including one at ITO area in central Delhi and five at the Akshardham flyover.
Delhi, which already has a shortage of public transport for commuters, will now have another bunch of 45-50 buses off the roads till they are repaired.
Recently, the DTC had placed an order for 1,000 low-floor buses - the largest ever single procurement order in 12 years.
Earlier this month, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had claimed that with new 1,000 DTC buses, its fleet will now increase to 4,760 and a total of 7,693 (DTC and Cluster) buses will be on roads. However, according to transport experts and sources in DTC, Delhi needs at least 11,000 buses to cater to the population of daily commuters.
Deep Sidhu skipped NIA summons in SFJ case
Punjabi actor and singer Deep Sidhu, who is accused of instigating the farmers to hoist a pennant on the Red Fort, did not appear before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) last week after he was summoned in connection with the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) case, sources said on Wednesday.
Sidhu was seen with a group of agitating farmers while hoisting a pennant on a flagpole at the ramparts of the Red Fort on Tuesday afternoon.
The NIA source said that Sidhu was asked to appear before the agency on January 17 as a witness. "But he did not appear despite a summon issued to him," the source said.
When asked if the NIA has served any fresh summons to him, the source said, "No fresh summons have been issued to him as of now."
To a question if the agency will summon him again, the source declined to comment.
The source further said that Sidhu was summoned by the NIA as the probe is based on a suspicious transaction report (STR) compiled by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) highlighting several abnormalities in banking transactions in the last few months which was shared with the anti-terror probe agency.
The NIA had registered a case on December 15 last year after a notification from the government under several sections of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). In the FIR, which has been viewed by IANS, the NIA alleged that SFJ, an unlawful association and other Khalistani terrorist outfits including but not limited to Babbar Khalsa International, Khalistan Tiger Force and Khalistan Zindabad Force along with their frontal organisations, have entered into a conspiracy to create an atmosphere of fear and lawlessness and to cause disaffection in people and to incite them towards rising in rebellion against the government.
The FIR also said that huge funds are being collected abroad for on-ground campaign and propaganda against Indian missions in countries like US, UK, Canada, Germany and so forth.
These campaigns are being spearheaded by designated terrorists Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Paramjit Singh Pamma, Hardeep Singh Nijjar and others.
The NIA FIR also alleged that SFJ and other pro-Khalistan elements involved in this conspiracy, through their incessant social media campaigns and otherwise, are radicalising and recruiting impressionable youth to agitate and undertake terrorist acts for creation of a separate nation of Khalistan after secession from India.
On Tuesday, hundreds of farmers riding on tractors, motorcycles and cars entered into the premises of Red Fort with the tricolour and flags of the farmers' unions in their hands.
The farmers, who outnumbered the security forces and police personnel, soon climbed on the ramparts of the monument and hoisted their flags there.
Sidhu also did a Facebook Live while hoisting the pennant from the ramparts of the Red Fort. In the video, Sidhu said, "We have only hoisted the Nishan Sahib flag on the Red Fort while exercising our democratic right to protest."
On Wednesday morning, Sidhu was also chased away from the Haryana-Delhi Singhu border farmer protest site.
FIR against Rakesh Tikait, other farmers leaders
The Delhi Police has named Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait beside other farmer leaders in the FIR over the violence that broke out in various parts of the national capital during the farmers' tractor rally on Tuesday.
The FIR charges them with breach of No Objection Certificate (NOC) issued regarding the rally.
The Delhi Police has registered 22 FIRs till now in various districts over the violent protest by agitating farmers on January 26, under sections of rioting, damage to public property and assault on public servant with deadly weapons.
Police has now begun investigation to analyse the video footage available to identify the violent protesters who damaged public property and attacked the Delhi Police personnel. A total of 86 policemen were injured in the violence as farmers entered into Delhi with their tractors ahead of the scheduled time agreed with the police forces of Delhi, Haryana and UP.
Meanwhile, the DCP North also visited the injured police personnel in the hospital.
Nearly 200 protesters have been detained so far. Delhi Police Commissioner S.N. Shrivastava has also held a high-level meeting with senior police officers to take a stock of the situation and discuss the future course of action.
Farmer leaders hold meeting, say violence damaged their cause
The leaders of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) have strongly condemned the incidents of violence at Red Fort on Republic Day in the national capital by a mob of farmers, protesting against the three farm laws enacted last year.
The SKM on Wednesday called a meeting in which the incidents of violence by the farmers would be discussed and deliberations would be held to keep the agitation peaceful.
The agitation on Delhi's borders by the farmers entered the 63rd day on Wednesday, demanding a repeal of three new Central farm laws and a legal guarantee for the procurement of all crops at the Minimum Support Price (MSP). The leaders of the SKM, a consortium of farmer organisations leading the agitation, have appealed to the farmers to continue protesting peacefully and condemned the incidents which took place on Tuesday.
Darshan Pal, President of the Krantikari Kisan Union in Punjab and SKM leader, told IANS that the farmers' agitation is peaceful and the union has nothing to do with those taking the farmers to the Red Fort and indulging in violence during the farmers' tractor rally.
Darshan Pal said the SKM meeting would discuss Tuesday's violence and ask the farmers to keep the protest peaceful. He said the question of any further talks with the Central government and a relook at the proposal to stay the implementation of the three farm laws for a year-and-a-half and constituting an experts committee to resolve the farmers' issue, could also be discussed in Wednesday's meeting.
He said, "We will call Deep Sidhu an anti-social element and his organisation, the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti, which are not part of our SKM." The leaders of the SKM have accused Punjabi actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu of deceiving the farmers by leading them to the Red Fort and indulging in violence there.
The leaders of 32 farmers' organisations of Punjab are going to discuss the whole Red Fort violence before the meeting of the SKM scheduled at 2 p.m. Prior to this meeting, Harinder Singh Lakhowal, General Secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal), a constituent of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, told IANS that 32 farmers' organisations in Punjab followed those routes agreed upon for the farmers Republic Day parade.
He said that the clashes with the police or the unfurling of a flag at the Red Fort are extremely tragic and he condemned it in strong words. Harinder Singh said that the violent incidents have caused a lot of damage to the farmers' movement and he urged the farmers not to deviate from their cause and keep the protest peaceful.
Joginder Singh, President of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan), said there was no plan of the SKM to reach the Red Fort as deviating from the prescribed routes and going to the Red Fort was against the agreement with the police. "The Union condemns any kind of violence," he added.
Asked about raising a flag at the Red Fort and creating chaos there, he said it was very wrong. He added that in the SKM meeting, the outline of the movement so far and farmer violence as well as further strategy would be discussed.
When the nation was celebrating the 72nd Republic Day on Tuesday, the farmers taking part in a tractor rally on the borders of Delhi deviated from the agreement with the police, broke the barricades, and people riding on tractors reached the Red Fort and indulged in hooliganism and violence. The miscreants also created a ruckus in Delhi's ITO area where the police had to lathicharge to disperse them.
Gurugram police on alert after tractor rally violence in Delhi
In view of the violence witnessed in Delhi during a farmers' tractor parade on Republic day, Gurugram Police was on high alert on Wednesday.
The district police said security arrangements have been increased and special instructions given to officials to keep a wary eye on suspicious elements.
Gurugram Police chief KK Rao directed senior and subordinate police officials to ensure that law and order was not disrupted at any cost in the district.
According to official sources, authorities have already suspended Internet services in Sonipat, Jhajjar and Palwal districts till 5 pm on Wednesday to prevent the spread of misinformation.
Internet services in Gurugram were affected since Tuesday afternoon.
Assistant Commissioner of Police and Deputy Commissioner of Police will continue to patrol their respective areas on rotational basis, police said.
"Policemen have been deployed in uniform and plainclothes in all crowded areas, including Sadar Bazaar. The police strength has been increased around Metro and railway stations, bus stands, crowded places and the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway (NH-48) and areas bordering Delhi to ensure law and order," Rao said.
Meanwhile, traffic on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway near the NSG campus resumed on Tuesday night. Earlier, it was blocked by Gurugram police in view of the farmers' tractor rally scheduled from the Haryana-Rajasthan border via Masani barrage and Dharuhera in Rewari to Gurugram.
Twitter suspends 300 accounts after tractor rally went violent
Twitter on Wednesday said it suspended more than 300 accounts engaged in spam and platform manipulation as the farmers' tractor rally went violent in the national capital on the 72nd Republic Day.
The farmers swarmed the Red Fort and waved farmer union flags from its ramparts. They even hoisted farmer union flags as well as a pennant with a Sikh religious symbol from a flagpole.
A Twitter spokesperson told IANS that the company has taken strong enforcement action to protect the conversation on the service from attempts to incite violence, abuse and threats that could trigger the risk of offline harm by blocking certain terms that violate our rules for trends.
"Using a combination of technology and human review, Twitter worked at scale and took action on hundreds of Tweets that have been in violation of the Twitter Rules and suspended more than 300 accounts engaged in spam and platform manipulation," the spokesperson informed.
The Delhi Police on Sunday had warned that 308 Twitter handles have been generated to create confusion over the tractor rally proposed by protesting farmers on Republic Day.
"Through intelligence and various other agencies, we have continuously been getting inputs regarding a threat to create disturbance in the tractor rally. Nearly 308 Twitter handles have been generated from Pakistan to create confusion," said Dependra Pathak, Special Commissioner Police, Intelligence, Delhi Police.
The microblogging platform said they were monitoring the situation closely and remain vigilant, "and strongly encourage those on the service to report anything they believe is in violation of the rules."
In all, 86 policemen were injured in the violence as farmers marched inside Delhi with their tractors ahead of the scheduled time agreed upon with the police authorities of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
22 FIRs filed; 86 cops injured
A total of 22 FIRs have been filed by the Delhi Police so far in connection with the violence witnessed during a farmers' tractor rally on the Republic Day, officials said on Wednesday.
The FIRs were registered under Sections dealing with riots, damage to public property and assault on public servants with deadly weapons.
The police have begun analysing video footage available to identify the violent protesters, who damaged public property and attacked Delhi Police personnel.
In all, 86 policemen were injured in the violence as farmers marched inside Delhi with their tractors ahead of the scheduled time agreed upon with police authorities of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Farmers had rallied with about 6,000-7,000 tractors at Singhu border around 8.30 am on January 26. As per the earlier-decided plan, they were supposed to reach Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar and then take a right turn. However, the protesters led by 'Nihangs' riding horses and armed with swords and other sharp-edged weapons charged at the police and broke through several layers of barricades set up between Mukarba Chowk and Transport Nagar, the Delhi Police said.
"At ITO, a large group of farmers, who had come from Gazipur and Singhu borders, attempted to move towards New Delhi district. When they were stopped by the policemen, a section of farmers became violent and broke through the barricades, damaged iron grills and road dividers and even tried to run over policemen deployed at barricades with their tractors," a senior police officer said.
The farmers swarmed the Red Fort and waved farmer union flags from its ramparts. They even hoisted farmer union flags as well as a pennant with a Sikh religious symbol from a flagpole.
The cat-and-mouse games between the police and protesting farmers continued until late Tuesday evening. Most of the incidents were reported from Mukarba Chowk, Gazipur, A-Point ITO, Seemapuri, Nangloi T-Point, Tikri Border and Red Fort.
Nearly 300 artistes, including children, who were part of the official Republic Day parade in Delhi on Tuesday were rescued by police after they were stranded near the Red Fort due to violence and chaos in the area.
