Police secure custody of Khalid’s attackers

NEWDELHI:A Delhi court on Tuesday sent Darwesh Shahpur and Naveen Dalal, the two men from Haryana who were arrested on Monday in connection with the alleged attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Phd scholar Umar Khalid to police custody for two days.

Police sought their custody to interrogate them to establish the source of the pistol used in the attack and to recover two mobile phones that they used to shoot videos to claim responsibility.

The pistol Naveen had allegedly pointed at Khalid during the assault fell on the road when he was escaping.

“The pistol was jammed and six bullets were intact inside. Khalid, his friends and some people on the spot claimed they had heard a gunshot. We are waiting for the ballistic report to find if a bullet was fired,” said an officer.

Manishi Chandra, deputy commissioner of police (counter intelligence, special cell), said the duo told them that they got the weapon from their friend.

Police said Darwesh and Naveen shot two videos with two separate mobile phones between August 14 and August 18 at different places. They shot the first video in a forested area in Haryana’s Jind on August 14, a day after the alleged attack, to claim responsibility.

In the video they said they would surrender on August 17. But they did not turn up that day.

On August 18, they released another video, saying that they could not surrender as they were in Delhi to attend the funeral of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.