In view of the tense situation in the riot-hit areas of Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have asked National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to monitor the situation closely and ensure restoration of peace at the earliest, officials said.
Immediately after visiting US President Donald Trump embarked on his return flight, 75-year old Doval undertook a late night tour of the riot-hit areas on Tuesday accompanied by Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik, newly-appointed Special Commissioner S N Shrivastava and other senior officers, they said.
The former Intelligence Bureau chief, who holds the rank of a cabinet minister, visited the affected areas, including Jaffrabad and Seelampur, where he met police officers and gave them necessary directives, besides meeting leaders of different communities to assuage the tension, the officials said.
Later Doval presented his on-the-spot assessment of the situation to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by the prime minister about the steps taken to quell the violence and restore normalcy in areas under the grip of communal riots over the amended citizenship law, they said.
Besides the prime minister, the CCS, the country's top-most body on strategic affairs, comprises Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
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Doval again visited the affected areas on Wednesday with senior officers where he met with locals and assured them that the situation is under control.
He said he was there on the instructions of the prime minister and the home minister.
"Police is working hard. Only some criminals were involved in this. One should try resolving issues and not increasing them. There were incidents earlier but today it is calm. Locals want peace. We have full faith there will be peace," he said.
Doval returned to North Block to brief Shah in the afternoon about the current law and order situation.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Director of Intelligence Bureau Arvind Kumar and Amulya Patnaik attended the meeting.
During the meeting, Shah, who was himself monitoring situation closely till late in the night, and Doval discussed the situation and chalked out future strategy for early restoration of peace in the national capital, the officials said.
Twenty-four people have been killed and over 200 injured in communal violence that broke out in northeast Delhi three days ago. Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Babarpur, Yamuna Vihar, Bhajanpura, Chand Bagh, Shiv Vihar are among the areas mainly affected by the riots.
Doval is known for his hands-on approach and is considered a close confidante of the prime minister and his go-to man for any crisis situation.
He had camped in Jammu and Kashmir for more than a fortnight after the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 in August last year.
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