New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS): Unprecedented violence over Citizenship Act in Delhi on Sunday may be due to the intelligence failure of the Delhi Police. The police seems to have been caught off guard as they could not anticipate violence on such a large scale, a source in the police said.

An officer in the intelligence department (Special Branch) of the Delhi police, on condition of anonymity, said, "The district police were given intelligence about a possible showdown and the worsening situation in Jamia Millia Islamia University, inside and outside the campus. The district police did not take the intelligence seriously."

The police also seem to have been caught off guard over the protest at its headquarters at ITO.

A large number of crowd gathered at the ITO HQ to protest against the police action against students of the University.

Meanwhile, after violent protests in Delhi over the Citizenship Amendment Act, 8 additional companies of the police have been deployed in south east Delhi to bring the situation under control.

The reinforcements have been called in from several district of Delhi.

Delhi police headquarters sources said, "Reserve force in all police stations of south east Delhi have been pressed into service to see no untoward incident happens."