New Delhi, Dec 24 ( IANS ): The Delhi Police team on Thursday searched the office of advocate Mehmood Pracha, who is handling several cases related to the February 2020 Northeast Delhi violence where at least 53 people died. The raids at Paracha's office in Delhi's Nizamuddin East began at around 12.30 pm and continued for more than three hours.

According to the Delhi Police, during the course of a bail matter pertaining to an accused of the Northeast Delhi riots, use of a forged notary stamp and creation of allegedly false and manipulated evidence at the hands of certain members of the bar was noticed. The Ld. Special Court had observed that the same required thorough investigation. Pursuant to this, a criminal case under appropriate sections of law was registered and an investigation taken up.

"During the course of investigation, search warrants to look for electronic and other evidence from the premises of two members of the bar were obtained from the Honourable Court and the same are being executed in a professional manner at one location in Nizamuddin and another at Yamuna Vihar," a senior Delhi Police officer said.

"They came to our office with laptops, printers and gadgets and hacked our office computers. We will file an FIR regarding this," Mehmood Paracha said.