Red Fort violence: Delhi Police cites rise in tractor sales to claim ‘well-orchestrated conspiracy’ by protesters

The Delhi Police, in its chargesheet in the Republic Day violence case, has cited a “rise” in sale of tractors in Punjab and Haryana between November 2020 and January 2021 to substantiate its claim that the violence by a section of farm protesters was a “deep-rooted, well-orchestrated conspiracy”, The Indian Express reported. 

The “sale of tractors rises to a considerable extent rapidly in a well-orchestrated conspiracy and with the sole object…to take tractors to Delhi for agitation and protest,” says the chargesheet.

The police, in its chargesheet, says that Punjab saw the biggest jump in tractor sales between November and January, which went up by 94.3 per cent in December 2020 as compared to December 2019. Similarly, January 2021 saw an increase of 85.13 per cent, with 2,840 tractors being sold as compared to 1,534 in January 2020, says the chargesheet.

There are also video clips in which farmer leaders “are claiming that the tractor rally will not follow the agreed route (and) if they are stopped by the police, they will breach the barricade and enter Delhi at any cost,” says the chargesheet.

The objective of the protesters was “to conquer/get hold of (Red Fort)” and turn it into a protest site to “cause embarrassment and humiliation at national and international level to the people of this country” by hoisting the Nishan Sahib and Kisan flag on Republic Day, says the chargesheet.

Thousands of farmers protesting the Centre”s new agri laws had clashed with the police during the tractor parade on January 26. Many of the protesters, driving tractors, reached the Red Fort and entered the monument. Some protesters even hoisted religious flags on its domes and a flagstaff at the ramparts, where the national flag is unfurled on Independence Day.

A total of 16 persons have been chargesheeted in the case under IPC sections related to rioting, assaulting public servants, criminal conspiracy, several sections of the Arms Act, The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, The Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains Act, Epidemic Diseases Act and Disaster Management Act. All the accused persons have been granted bail.