Delhi Police in knots over truck loaded with stones near Jantar Mantar

In a late-evening statement on Tuesday, 28 July, Delhi Police advised the public not to circulate "baseless" information about a truck loaded with stones that was allegedly parked near Jantar Mantar on the morning of 20 July, when youth protesters had planned a march to Parliament. Earlier that morning, the organisers shared a photograph of the truck, expressing concern that it could be used to frame the protesters. Later in the day, police attempted to disperse the march, and both sides exchanged brickbats.

A Newslaundry report published on Tuesday, 28 July, traced police records and found that the truck had been seized on 16 July after it allegedly hit a Maruti Eeco van carrying seven occupants, all of whom were injured. Police seized the truck, and the van's owner also handed over the damaged vehicle to the police as evidence on the same day.

“The FIR records the time of the crash as 4.15 am on 16 July. Truck HR63 E 6865, allegedly driven rashly and negligently, hit a Maruti Eeco (HR43 D 9778) at the Firoz Shah Road–Kasturba Gandhi Marg crossing in Lutyens' Delhi. Seven people travelling in the van were injured. Both vehicles were taken to the Parliament Street police station,” the report said.

Since 16 July, the dumper has moved at least four times — to the protest site, to Bhalswa to be emptied, to the pavement outside the Indian Youth Congress office on Raisina Road, and then out of sight, the report added.

Late on Tuesday night, 28 July, Ashutosh Ranka, a CJP spokesperson, tweeted that on 20 July, Delhi Police had informed them that the truck belonged to the NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Corporation). However, Newslaundry was given a different version when it approached Delhi Police for comment.

The Parliament Street and Sansad Marg police stations first claimed that the photograph of the stone-laden truck circulated on 20 July was old and that the truck had already been emptied of stones. They later said the truck had been moved out of the police station because of a shortage of space due to the protest and was emptied only after the photograph of the stone-laden truck went viral.

Asked why the now-empty truck was parked on Raisina Road outside the Youth Congress office between 21 and 25 July, a DCP told Newslaundry that it did not matter where the police parked seized vehicles.

Delhi Police had barricaded the protest site and were checking visitors' bags before allowing them to enter through door-frame metal detectors. CCTV cameras were installed around the protest site and at the entry points, alongside mobile facial-recognition vans deployed at Jantar Mantar. Security had been tightened considerably after 18 July, when Sonam Wangchuk, who was on a fast, was allegedly "abducted" by the police and taken to Safdarjung Hospital. How, then, did a truckload of stones make its way into this restricted, high-security zone?

On 20 July, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke pointed to a truck loaded with stones parked near the protest site and demanded an explanation from Delhi Police on how it had crossed the police cordon and reached the area. “It could have been used to frame the protesters or incite violence,” Mr. Dipke said. However, the police did not respond to his questions.

In a statement issued on 28 July, Delhi Police said: “It is clarified that claims alleging that Truck No. HR63 E 6865 was deliberately deployed by Delhi Police near Jantar Mantar or outside any political party office are false and misleading.”