Shah closely monitoring Delhi situation: Official sources

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has had a string of meetings in the past three days and is closely monitoring the situation in the violence-hit areas of the national capital, official sources said on Wednesday.

After violence erupted in northeast Delhi, Shah called a high-level meeting at his residence on Monday afternoon and it was attended by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Arvind Kumar, Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik and other senior officers.

In the meeting that continued for over three hours, Shah was briefed about the situation and he directed the Delhi Police to take strict action to quell the violence, the sources said.

Till late in the evening that day, he again reviewed the situation and the meeting went on past midnight.

On Tuesday, Shah held a review meeting at 9 am with home ministry officials and in the noon, he met leaders of main political parties and officials of Delhi on the law and order situation in the capital.

The home minister appealed to all parties to send their MPs, MLAs, counsellors and party cadres along with senior police officials to the affected areas to help eliminate the atmosphere of fear and rumours among the general public.

Shah held another meeting with the home secretary and the director of IB at his North Block office to evaluate the situation.

In the evening, Shah initiated the process of appointing senior IPS officer S N Shrivastava as Special Commissioner of Police in Delhi, the sources said.

At 6.30 pm, Shah held yet another long meeting with the home secretary, director IB, the Deputy NSA, Delhi Police Commissioner, Shrivastava and other officials at his residence.

Even after this meeting, the home minister reviewed the situation till 2 o'clock in the night and gave necessary instructions to the police, the sources said.

On Wednesday, Shah again reviewed the security situation and was in constant touch with senior officials of the home ministry and the Delhi Police.

He was also given a briefing on the prevailing situation by NSA Ajit Doval after the latter's visit to the violence-hit areas.

At least 24 people have been killed and over 200 injured in communal violence that broke out in northeast Delhi three days ago. Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Babarpur, Yamuna Vihar, Bhajanpura, Chand Bagh, Shiv Vihar are among the areas mainly affected by the riots. PTI ACB ZMN GSN ZMN