Delhi violence: Why a retired Delhi Police official feels betrayed

Accusing Delhi police of negligence, Mehmood Khan, a 66-year-old retired sub-inspector of Delhi Police said that he made several calls to the police control room after the violence broke out in his area but got no response.

New Delhi:It is not just the common people who are complaining of police not responding to their distress calls during the recent communal riots in Delhi. It emerges now that the Delhi Police let down their own too.

Mehmood Khan, a 66-year-old retired sub-inspector of Delhi Police said that he made several calls to the police control room after the violence broke out in his area but got no response.

He said that he saw a crowd of thousands while he was returning from a mosque in the Ganga Vihar area on the evening of February 24. Sensing trouble, Khan fled to the nearby Kabir Nagar, a Muslim majority area, along with his family.

He further said that he received calls on February 25 that a mob had gathered outside his house and was ransacking his house. Again, Khan made frantic calls to Delhi Police control room as well as some of his acquaintances in the department, but nobody came to his help.

"I made at least 9-10 calls to the police control room and to police officials but no one answered. I worked for Delhi Police for 40 years and till today no one from the department has come to visit me or even called to ask as to what happened to me and my family," said a visibly disappointed Khan.

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He has also claimed that the rioters looted cash amounting to Rs 8 lakh and the gold jewellery which was recently bought for the wedding of Khan's granddaughter. The mob also vandalised his four-storeyed house, though the mob somehow stopped short of setting the building on fire.

Khan's neighbours claim that they begged with the rioters to not set the building on fire.

Mehmood Khan's family is the only Muslim family in the Hindu dominated locality of Ganga Vihar.

Chowdhary Pritam Singh, Khan's 72-year-old neighbour said, "We are brothers and we would remain so no matter what. When we saw the rioters coming, all of us stood together to protect his house. With folded hands, we told them he is our brother, please don't do this. Please go."

The storm has passed, but it has left Khan - and hundreds like him - bruised, shattered and betrayed.

At least 45 people have died and more than 200 people have sustained serious injuries in the communal violence that rocked north-east Delhi for four days. Two Special Investigation Teams (SIT) have been constituted under the Delhi Police's Crime Branch to investigate the violence.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of the people who lost their lives in violence. He has said that Rs 5 lakh will be provided in cases of permanent incapacitation, Rs 2 lakh for serious injuries and Rs 20,000 for a minor injury.

(ANI Report)