Turkman Gate violence: Six more held, total arrests now stands at 11

A day after a court-ordered anti-encroachment drive triggered clashes and stone-pelting in central Delhi’s Turkman Gate area, six more arrests have been made in connection with the violence, which left police personnel injured.

The total number of arrests made in the matter now stands at 11, including the apprehension of a juvenile.

"We have arrested six more people. So far total of 11 people, including one juvenile, have been apprehended," Additional Commissioner of Police (Central) Nidhin Valsan told PTI.

He said that adequate deployment of police personnel and paramilitary forces has been made in the area to maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incident. Officers are closely monitoring the situation, he added.

An anti-encroachment drive near the Faiz-e-Elahi mosque in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan area on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday triggered violence as many people pelted stones at police personnel, injuring five of them, including the area's station house officer.

Trouble brewed when a social media post claimed the mosque, opposite the Turkman Gate, was being demolished during the anti-encroachment drive, and people started gathering there, police sources said.

They claimed that 150 to 200 people were involved in the pelting of stones and glass bottles at the police and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) workers.

MCD Deputy Commissioner Kumar Kumar had said around 36,000 square feet of encroached area was cleared during the drive. A diagnostic centre, a banquet hall and two boundary walls were demolished during the drive that went on through the night, Kumar had said.

He had also clarified that the mosque was not damaged in any way.