New Delhi, March 5 (IANS): Did Delhi Police have any understanding with the two most wanted persons -- Shahrukh Pathan and Tahir Hussain -- in the riots that shook the capital recently?

The sequence of events in the run-up to the arrest of Shahrukh Pathan from Shamli in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday and the surrender of Hussain on Thursday in a Rouse Avenue court raises some questions which no police officer is willing to comment on, particularly at a time when the new Commissioner of Police S.N. Shrivastava has taken charge.

A Crime Branch officer told IANS on the condition of anonymity that the enthusiasm of police had vanished with the arrest of Shahrukh, but the circumstances in which he was caught "easily" by the Crime Branch were self-explanatory.

The officer asked if Shahrukh, who had held a pistol to Constable Deepak Dahia during the violence, was indeed evading police, then why no reward for his arrest was announced immediately after he had absconded.

Another SP-rank officer said that Shahrukh was on the run due to the fear of police encounter. His family too was looking for ways to make him surrender before the Crime Branch. Once it was confirmed he would not be killed in a police encounter, he himself walked into the police net, the officer claimed.

He said the police should have announced a reward of at least Rs 1 lakh in the initial stages itself. Since this did not happen, he claimed, it was clear that the absconding criminal or his family or someone he knew was in contact with the police throughout.

Fingers have now been raised over Tahir's surrender in court, "without the Crime Branch getting to know about his impending action".

Was the intelligence apparatus caught napping or was Hussain too in constant touch with police to ensure his hassle-free surrender?

Attempts by IANS to talk to Crime Branch Additional Commissioner of Police Dr Ajit Kumar Singla on the issue did not elicit any response.