Delhi Police have registered an FIR and arrested one person after large numbers of dead fish were found in the Yamuna near Sonia Vihar, although the cause of the deaths remains unclear ahead of Chhath worship at riverbank ghats.
The arrest followed a complaint from the Irrigation and Flood Control Department, police said. The case was registered at Wazirabad police station against unidentified people under Sections 353, 352 and 240 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The arrested person was later released on bail, according to the report.
Police said investigators were working to identify others who may have been involved. Earlier, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Niharika Bhatta said a case would be registered against unknown persons and that an inquiry would determine whether the deaths resulted from deliberate action or another cause. She said strict action would be taken against anyone found responsible.
The precise reason for the fish deaths has not been established. The police action therefore addresses the reported incident and the search for those responsible, but does not confirm whether the fish died because of pollution, were placed in the river or were affected by another environmental factor.
The incident has also become the subject of competing political allegations. Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa accused the Aam Aadmi Party of placing dead fish in the river shortly before Chhath. Delhi Water Minister Parvesh Verma similarly alleged that the fish had been thrown into the Yamuna to discredit the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s efforts to clean the river.
The Aam Aadmi Party rejected the allegations and called for an investigation into the deaths. Its Delhi unit president said the complaint did not mention that fish had been brought from elsewhere and placed in the river, and argued that polluted water could have caused the deaths. The party demanded that the government establish how thousands of fish had died.
Local residents, according to news agency Bhasha, alleged that waste discharged from a leather factory near the Hathnikund Barrage was responsible. That allegation has not been independently established in the supplied report, and no official finding confirming the source of any discharge or the cause of death has been reported.
The timing has heightened public concern because devotees are expected to visit different Yamuna ghats for Chhath worship. The investigation will now have to establish the cause of the fish deaths, identify any persons responsible and determine whether contamination or deliberate dumping played a role.
