Delhi, U.P. on high alert after violence during Hanuman Jayanthi procession

The national capital and adjoining regions of Uttar Pradesh were put on high alert on Saturday following a confrontation between two communities in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri during a “shobha yatra” on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. Police sources said multiple such processions had been taken out in the area during the day; the confrontation occurred when the third such procession began and was passing by a local mosque around 5:40 p.m. Those involved in the violence also attacked police personnel who were dispatched to the spot as initial reports about the confrontation began trickling in around 5:30 p.m. Police said while one police official had sustained a gun injury, they also received reports about local shops having been broken into and looted. MHA sources said Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana who assured him that the situation was under control and being monitored by senior police officials on the ground. He assured that all steps are being taken to ensure peace and that guilty will not be spared.” Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, terming the incident a conspiracy to destabilise communal harmony in the city, accused the AAP Delhi government of being hand in glove with those behind the incident and blamed the violence on “Bangladeshi and Rohingya” refugees residing in the area.