Stone-filled truck near Jantar Mantar had been in police custody for four days, says report

A truck carrying stones that was seen parked near Delhi’s Jantar Mantar hours before the Cockroach Janta Party’s march to Parliament on July 20 had been in the custody of the Delhi Police for four days after it was seized in a road accident case, Newslaundry reported on Tuesday.

The Delhi Police acknowledged that the truck had been seized on July 16 in connection with the case. However, it stated that “claims alleging that [the truck] was deliberately deployed by Delhi Police near Jantar Mantar…are false and misleading”.

On July 20, hours before the Cockroach Janta Party’s planned march to Parliament, the political campaign posted a video on social media showing the truck carrying stones having been parked at Jantar Mantar.

Abhijeet Dipke, the campaign’s founder, had asked at the time whether the police was “orchestrating stone-pelting on the peaceful CJP protesters”.

On Tuesday, Newslaundry reported that it had traced the truck using its registration number. The vehicle had been seized by the police on July 16 following a crash in central Delhi in which seven persons were injured. A first information report was registered in the crash and the truck had been in the custody of the Parliament Street police station.

Following the crash, the truck had been taken to at least four places including the protest site and...

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