Delhi violence: Shah holds meeting with Lt Gov, Kejriwal, top cop, Cong, BJP leaders

New Delhi: As fresh violence broke out in northeast Delhi where seven people, including a police head constable were killed as Hindutva goons unleashed terror in Muslim majority neighbourhoods of Jaffrabad, Maujpur and Chand Bagh and the Muslims protesting against CAA retaliated on Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday held a meeting to discuss the prevailing situation. Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Commissioner of Police Amulya Patnaik, Congress leader Subhash Chopra, BJP's Manoj Tiwari and Ramvir Bidhuri attended the meeting.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Director of Intelligence Bureau Arvind Kumar were also present.

The move came after the home minister reviewed the law and order situation in the national capital on Monday night.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was reported by PTI as saying there was a need to seal borders to prevent outsiders from coming in to Delhi to foment more trouble, and that he would suggest it to Shah, under whose authority the Delhi Police functions.

On Monday, even as videos did the rounds of social media showing massive crowds shouting Jai Shri Ram menacing these mostly-Muslim neighbourhoods, and people shown collecting stones the night before to stock their stone pelting arsenal the next day, even as a man was captured by news agencies in crystal clear view shooting from a pistol on Monday, Delhi police which is seen accompanying the marauding crowd in some of the videos, issued boiler plate statements that the force was doing everything it could to bring the situation under control.

Chief Minister Kejriwal said the police were not able to take action without orders from above.

The violence that broke as the nation hosts US President Donald Trump in the national capital, came a day after BJP leader Kapil Mishra instigated BJP supporters saying the protesting Muslims should be forcefully removed from where they had been demonstrating peacefully until then.

And so, for the third consecutive day, on Tuesday mobs continued to vandalise shuttered shops and pelt stones in northeast Delhi as leaders of opposition political parties merely expressed platitudes.

Smoke was seen going up in some places and streets, including in the epicentre of the trouble Maujpur, were littered with stones, bricks and burnt tyres, testimony to the spiralling violence and bloodshed that took on a communal taint on Monday and injured about 150 people.

Schools were shut with exams being postponed and fearful residents stayed indoors as the area smouldered with tension.

Prohibitory orders, banning the assembly of more than four persons, were imposed on Monday and will continue to be in force till March 24.

A resident in Maujpur said he has seen a riot like situation such as this for the first time in 35 years. "The area had always remained peaceful," he told PTI, requesting anonymity.

According to police sources, 48 police personnel and 98 civilians were injured in Monday's clashes between pro and anti CAA groups at Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Chandbagh, Khureji Khas and Bhajanpura. Three firemen also received injuries while dousing flames in the area.

The death toll in the violence climbed to seven -- six civilians and Delhi Police head constable Ratan Lal -- on Tuesday, a senior police official said. While Lal died of injuries sustained during stone pelting in Chand Bagh, it is not yet clear what killed the others.

With US President Donald Trump in the city, Delhi Police ramped up security in the area. It is being assisted by paramilitary personnel.

Officials said police personnel are talking to local peace committees in a bid restore amity.

"Mischief-makers are being dealt with strictly on the spot," a senior official said.

There have been no arrests yet.