Delhi Riots: Amidst Reports of ‘Shoot-at-Sight’ Orders, New Special Commissioner Appointed

Police said 11 FIRs have been filed.

New Delhi: IPS officer S.N. Shrivastava has been appointed as the new Delhi Police Special Commissioner (Law and Order) after the Union home ministry repatriated him from the CRPF on Tuesday night to take control of the violence in the national capital, officials said.

The news of this appointment came hot in the heels of reports that a shoot-at-sight order has been issued for police in north east Delhi.

BJP national general secretary B.L. Santosh tweeted not just on the appointment and the order but also on the fact that the Jaffrabad anti-CAA protest site which first saw violence, has been ‘cleared’ of protesters.

Police have confirmed that protesters have left the venue where they had gathered since Saturday.

New appointment

Shrivastava, a 1985-batch AGMUT cadre officer, is tipped to take over as the new Delhi Police chief after incumbent Amulya Patnaik’s extended tenure ends on February 29.

An order issued by the home department of the Delhi government said the officer is being appointed to the Delhi Police post with “immediate effect”.

The Central Reserve Police Force, where Shrivastava was serving as the Special Director General (Training), also issued an order reliving the officer to join the new post after the home ministry ordered his premature repatriation from the paramilitary force.

Officials said Shrivastava, who has served the Delhi Police in various capacities in the past, has joined the new posting and is already interacting with police officials to control the violence that has engulfed parts of north-east Delhi since the last two days and has claimed 11 lives including of a policeman.

11 FIRs registered

The Delhi Police in a press conference said 11 FIRs have been registered in connection with the violence in northeast Delhi, in which 11 people were killed, and the force is responding to incidents involving anti-social elements.

Delhi Police spokesperson Mandeep Singh Randhawa said the situation in northeast Delhi is under control, even as several parts of the area continued to reel under violence. Over 20 persons have been detained and one person arrested till now, police said.

Among the 11 dead was Delhi Police head constable Rattan Lal.

Sources said he was shot in the left shoulder.

“We are responding to stray incidents of violence. Sufficient force has been deployed in northeast Delhi. RAF, SSB and CRPF have also been deployed.

“The MHA has given us additional force and we are deploying it,” he said.


Sixty-seven companies of police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed across the area, police sources said.

He also said senior officers are on ground and even the Crime Branch and other units are working in close coordination to monitor the situation.

Senior police officers are also monitoring the situation closely, he added.

Randhawa said the police started receiving calls related to violent incidents from Monday.

“We received calls from Gokalpuri, Maujpur, Bhajanpura, Karawal Nagar about such incidents and our force was deployed there.

“We had deployed force on important points. Clashes happened between groups of protesters and we sent forces there to control the situation,” he said.

Randhawa said 56 police personnel sustained injuries, including two IPS officers.

DCP (Shahdara) Amit Sharma sustained head injuries and is under medical observation.

He also said 130 civilians have been injured and admitted to hospitals.

He appealed to people to maintain peace, cooperate with police and not to pay heed to rumours.

“Despite prohibitory orders being in place, incidents were reported and we took action. We are tackling incidents and taking strong action. All miscreants and anti-social elements will be dealt with severely,” Randhawa said.

Drones are also being used to monitor the situation and CCTV footage is being used to identify those who threw stones from their terraces.

(With PTI inputs)