At least two rounds of pellets were used on July 20 on the orders of a deputy commissioner of the Delhi Police, according to the statement of a deputy commander of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) recorded in a general diary entry at the Parliament Street police station.
Event Context
The diary entry – filed at 1.24am on July 22 by a Delhi Police sub-inspector and seen by HT – is the first document that shows the usage of pellets during a sprawling student march to Parliament on July 20.
“…Dated 20/07/2026 DC Satish Kumar Sangwan deputy commander B 108 RAF sahab came to the DO office and said that [he] was on duty with Zone 1 Jantar Mantar DCP North Raja Bhatiya on whose orders Non Electrical shell – 55, Electrical – 15, Tear Smoke Grenades – 5, ARG – 2 BC, 2PP were used to curb the crowd during the CJP protest,” read the general diary entry in Hindi, with numbered 0008A, carrying the signature of the sub-inspector and the seal of the Parliament Street police station.
ARG stands for anti-riot gun, BC is ballistic cartridges and PP is plastic pellets. RAF is a specialised unit within the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) deployed to handle riots and other public disturbances across the country.
CRPF has already instituted an inquiry into the allegations. To be sure, the DCP North is Raja Banthia. He was unavailable for comment. Both Delhi Police and CRPF refused to comment on the record.
Plastic pellets are different from metal pellets and are intended to cause less serious injuries. Metallic pellets have controversially been used in Jammu and Kashmir.
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People aware of the matter said that RAF was collecting authorisation letters – which authorise the dispersal of the crowd using gas, lathi, firearms, or confinement – and will include them in its final report.
(With inputs from Hemani Bhandari and Karn Pratap Singh)
Player Focus
The developments come a day after a petition was filed in the Supreme Court by Yashovardhan Azad, Prashant Singh and Sheikh Irshad Mansuri, seeking direction for decommissioning or banning the use of wholly or partly metallic kinetic projectiles/ pellets fired from pump action rifles or projectile action guns (PAG) for crowd dispersal of civilian assemblies by law enforcement agencies.
Team Analysis
HT has reported that five people – Sheikh Irshad Mansuri, a 25-year-old employee with a private firm, Nootan Toppo, a 32-year-old woman from Gurugram, a 28-year-old reporter, Prashant Singh, a 25-year-old Bihar resident, and 19-year-old Sahil Lochab, a student aspiring to join the police force – have alleged (in Lochab’s case the allegations were made by the family) that they were hit with pellets on July 20.
“The joint CP and special CP are checking with the DCPs and the other GD records regarding the location and communication related to the firing. Many entries were recorded on July 20, and they are being checked. The senior officers are also checking with the DCP of the New Delhi district under whose jurisdiction the pellet guns were fired. The DCP also had RAF teams under him,” the second officer said.
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A general diary entry is a document with details of police movement, the arrangements, communication, and everything else related to law and order in the area. Once recorded, it cannot be erased or deleted and is a legal record.
Match Outlook
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“During the preliminary internal probe, the DCP named in the report claimed he was posted in Patel Chowk, a stretch of Ashoka Road near the metro station, and in front of the Gol Dak Khana that afternoon. He said his location was away from the Outer Circle area near Pallika Bazar Gandhi Chakra, where other DCP-rank officers were present along with Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel on the afternoon of July 20, 2026. The DCP also told his seniors that the CRPF’s deputy commandant (DC) filed the GD entry as an afterthought almost two days after the violence,” an official aware of the matter said.
On Tuesday, a high-level meeting was held at the Delhi Police headquarters to discuss the general diary entry. A second officer confirmed that the Delhi Police commissioner Anurag Kumar asked officers from Delhi Zone 1 to probe and file a report.
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Banthia told the police brass that he was not present in the outer circle of Connaught Place or Jantar Mantar area when the incident occurred, according to people aware of the matter. Delhi Police is conducting an internal inquiry.
According to information gathered so far in the police’s internal probe, at least two other DCP-rank officers, called from other districts, were assigned to different CRPF teams in the vicinity of Connaught Place on July 20, said the people cited above.
According to senior officers aware of the developments, more than 20 general diary entries have been made at the Parliament Street police station by RAF officials on July 21 and 22 regarding the violence on July 20.
When asked whether a DCP rank officer authorised the use of pellet guns during the protest, a senior police officer said that the officer only authorised the use of lathis and teargas smoke but not firing.
