Charge sheets have been filed in connection with the northeast Delhi communal riots in February, in which, 53 people lost their lives. It has been stated that the violence was “not impromptu, but was conspired with intent to create communal strife, to malign the image of the country under the garb of democratically opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act”.

On February 24, a police party was violently attacked by a mob of Muslim rioters on Wazirabad Road (number 59) which was being countered by a Hindu mob from nearby areas that came on the streets. Constable Ratal Lal died after getting attacked by the unruly Muslim mob and now charge sheet has been filed against 17 Muslim men for allegedly murdering Delhi Police head constable. As per the filed charge sheet by the Delhi Police, clashes between the two communities turned into a full-fledged riot in no time.

 In the next two hours of this rioting, a Muslim man named Shahid Alam was shot with a gun. Alam was on the roof of one ‘Saptarishi Ispat and Alloy Pvt. Ltd’, a godown-cum shop that had been taken over by Muslim rioters. Run by a Hindu man, the building is located in a service lane near 25-foota road in Chand Bagh area on Wazirabad road.

Earlier, the media reported that Shahid was killed by a bullet fired from the building of Mohan Nursing Home, which was taken over by Hindu rioters and which is situated right across the Saptarishi building.

However, the police statements and the charge sheet filed in the case doesn't suggest the same. 

According to Police, Shahid was “accidentally killed by his own men." The Print quoted a senior police officer saying, “Shahid was the part of the mob that was firing from the building. He was accidentally shot at by one of his own men. From the angle he was shot at, it appears to be an accidental shot.” The officer also cited eyewitnesses “who told us he was shot at by the crowd”.

Media reports suggested that Shahid Alam was killed after sustaining an injury from a bullet fired by the Hindu mob. 

On 5 March, NDTV’s primetime anchor Ravish Kumar aired a few video clips on his show showed some rioters on the roof of Mohan Nursing Home and Hospital pelting stones and bricks towards those who are capturing them on video.

Hindu rioters on the roof of Mohan Nursing Home

They also aired some clips in which an injured Shahid Alam being taken down from the roof, by a group of other rioters, after he was shot and some high-resolution pictures of Hindu rioters (clicked from the top floor of Saptarishi godown). 

Screengrab from NDTV Prime Show of 5 March 2020 which shows Shahid Alam being brought down from the roof by ladder.

However, the show fails to question the presence of Shahid and other Muslim rioters on the top of Saptarishi building and put out an impression that an innocent Muslim boy, who is an auto driver, was shot at by rioters firing from Mohan Nursing Home towards the Muslim-majority colony (implying that killers were Hindus).

It turns out that Shahid was one of the rioters. The charge sheet states, "The distance between both the two building (Saptarishi and Mohan Nursing) was measured and it was found that buildings are 78 metres apart. There are three copper fragments recovered from the body of the deceased; the FSL result is pending quo the bore of the bullet and makes of the gun/pistol through it was fired. As of now, it seems the fragments obtained are of the small arm and hence it is highly unlikely that it could’ve been fired from Mohan Nursing home (sic),” the charge sheet filed in the case says."

The six arrested men in Shahid’s murder case, namely Mohammed Firoz, Rais Khan, Chand Mohammed, Mohammed Junaid, Irshad and Akhil Ahmed are slapped with charges of murder under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code.

After Shahid was brought down with the help of a ladder, he was taken to one Madina hospital. Owner of Madina hospital, Mansoor Khan, has told the police in his statement that some unidentified people came, “threw” the body there and left. Before he could examine it, some unidentified people took it away saying they are relatives.

The charge sheet says, "This clearly suggests that every attempt was being made by the protesters/rioters to hide their identity so that the truth is not revealed."

Shahid’s body was then taken to his home and left outside the house, as revealed by the statement of his brother to the police. The family found the body lying at the doorstep. They took it to GTB hospital, where Shahid was declared brought dead.

Police say the accused deleted all relevant data from 23 and 34 February from their phones. “Most common aspect to be noticed is that from all the mobile phones recovered form the arrested accused persons the data pertaining to date 23 Feb and 24 Feb is deleted from their mobile phones. If they were not inciting and instigating, what was the need to destroy the data,” the chargesheet says.

Hence, NDTV ran a story that gave a wrong impression of Shahid Alam being killed by the Hindu mob and later it tuned out to be fake.