NEW DELHI: The controversy surrounding a truck loaded with stones that appeared near the site of the Cockroach Janta Party’s July 20 ‘Sansad Chalo’ march is refusing to die down.Just two days after the Delhi Police clarified that the truck was not deliberately parked near the protest site and had been seized following an accident, the Congress has now raised fresh questions over the vehicle’s movements.Youth Congress leader Gurmehar Kaur, addressing a press conference in Delhi, questioned how the same truck that was allegedly in police custody after an accident on July 16 could later reappear loaded with stones near the protest site and subsequently outside the Indian Youth Congress office. Her remarks were reported by news agency PTI.“We are not here today just to discuss some conspiracy theories, but we are here to ask and demand questions that every citizen of this democratic country has the right to have answers to,” Kaur said.“We are going to begin with the story of this mysterious and dangerous truck,” she said, claiming the vehicle “randomly showed up” on July 20 near Jantar Mantar and Sansad Marg.According to Kaur, the truck had met with an accident involving a Maruti Eeco at the Firoz Shah Road-Kasturba Gandhi Marg crossing around 4am on July 16. An FIR was subsequently registered and, she claimed, both vehicles were taken into police custody at Parliament Street police station.“From July 16 till July 20, this same truck along with that Maruti Eeco was in police custody at the Parliament Street police station. Then suddenly it reappears full of stones, full of projectiles at Sansad Marg and at Jantar Mantar and eventually at the Indian Youth Congress office,” Kaur said.The questions raised by the Congress come after Delhi Police issued a clarification on July 28, saying the truck had been seized on July 16 after an accident in which seven people were injured.According to the police, the vehicle was initially parked near the police station due to space constraints and was later emptied and shifted to a safer location after its owner was instructed to do so in view of the ‘Chalo Sansad’ movement.The police said the truck was “not deliberately deployed” near Jantar Mantar or outside any political party office and termed claims linking it to a conspiracy against protesters “completely baseless”.“At no point was it alleged by us that the protesters had anything to do with the truck or its contents,” the police said, urging citizens not to circulate unverified information.The truck, bearing registration number HR63 E 6865, had first triggered questions after CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke posted videos on July 20 showing it parked near the protest site.“Truck loaded with stones has been parked at Jantar Mantar. What are the police authorities upto? Are they orchestrating stone-pelting on the peaceful CJP protesters?” Dipke had posted on X at 6.24am.The same truck was later seen outside the Indian Youth Congress office on Raisina Road. In a video posted on Instagram, Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress president Akshay Lakra was seen questioning police officials about the vehicle.“How is a truck parked in a no-entry zone… It has been here for three days, the Parliament is right here… Why is this truck parked here? No one has an answer… Why is the Delhi Police not removing it?” Lakra said in the video.Speaking to TOI, Lakra claimed the truck was removed within an hour after he made calls and posted the video on social media.The episode has since become a fresh point of contention, with the Delhi Police maintaining that the truck’s presence was linked to an earlier accident and subsequent movement for safekeeping, while political leaders continue to question how a vehicle carrying stones appeared around the site of a high-security protest that later witnessed clashes.
