Armed with gun, man attacks Umar Khalid near Parliament
NEW DELHI: An unidentified man armed with a pistol attacked Jawaharlal Nehru University PHD scholar Umar Khalid outside the Constitution Club of India near Parliament House Monday afternoon, police said.
Khalid and eyewitnesses said the attacker also fired a shot while fleeing the spot, but police said they were yet to establish this allegation. While no one was hurt in the attack, the assailant managed to escape, leaving the countrymade weapon at the spot.
The police have registered a case of attempt to murder and under the Arms Act and have constituted multiple teams to nab the suspect.
Khalid was one of the three JNU students arrested in February 2016 for allegedly raising seditious slogans at an event at the campus to protest the hanging of Afzal Guru. The police are yet to file a charge sheet in that case.
Madhur Verma, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi), said investigators have “strong leads” about the suspect, who was also captured by CCTV cameras.
“Though all lines of probe are open, our investigation so far has confirmed that the attack was not spontaneous. The attacker came prepared and knew about Khalid’s movements. He had followed him to the club. Someone had possibly informed him about Khalid’s location,” said Verma.
Khalid and his friends were visiting the club to attend a programme named ‘Khauf se Azaadi’ (Freedom from fear), an initiative by ‘United Against Hate’, a campaign platform.
Other scheduled attendees included advocate Prashant Bhushan, suspended BRDM Hospital doctor Kafeel Khan and Rohith Vemula’s mother Radhika Vemula. The programme was to begin at 2.30pm.
Khalid said he reached the venue at 2.10pm and decided to have snacks with his friends at a stall outside the main gate of the club. The alleged attack took place around 2.30pm while he was walking towards the club with three friends.
“Suddenly, a man pounced on me from behind. I fell and lost my spectacles. Suddenly I saw him take out a pistol. My hands instinctively tried to push away the gun that he was trying to point to my chest. At that moment, my friends saved me by overpowering him,” said Khalid.
Ashish Pandey, who works for a ministry nearby and claimed to be at the spot, had a slightly different account to narrate. Pandey recounted seeing the gun-wield- ing attacker approach Khalid from the front. “The moment Khalid spotted him, he grabbed him, possibly to disarm him,” said Pandey.
Both, Khalid and Pandey, confirmed that the suspect began to run across the road after being overpowered, the pistol still in his hand. “The man had barely crossed the road when he slipped. It was at that moment that I heard a gunshot. I saw the pistol fall from his hand and the attacker fleeing on foot,” said Pandey.
Khalid quoted one of his friends as saying that the attacker fired the shot to keep a chaser at bay. Khalid then ran inside the club to save himself by “being among people”.
Rajesh and Vipin Kashyap, two stall owners near the crime spot, remembered hearing a loud sound, resembling a “tyre burst”. “People had panicked and were running across the road. But soon, the place was flooded with people,” said Kashyap.
Police arrived at the spot to find the pistol lying at the spot. The DCP claimed that no bullet shell was found at the spot and quoted police experts as saying that it was unlikely that a shot was fired. “A bullet was found stuck in the pistol’s chamber. The attacker may not have been able to fire a shot. We have sent the weapon for ballistic examination,” the DCP said. NEW DELHI: Condemning the alleged attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) PHD scholar Umar Khalid outside the Constitution Club on Monday, students and teachers of the varsity called for a speedy police investigation into the incident.
JNU teachers’ association (JNUTA) president Sona Minz said, “We condemn the attack on our student in unequivocal terms. For over a year, Delhi Police has been unable to find a single clue to lead us to Najeeb Ahmad, who disappeared from the campus (in October 2016). The police must expedite the investigation and arrest Umar Khalid’s attacker immediately.”
Calling it a “cowardly attack”, students said they may plan a protest to condemn the attack but no decision has been taken it.
Former JNUSU vice president Shehla Rashid tweeted, “Shocking and highly condemnable: a guy attacked Umar Khalid from behind and tried to shoot him... This is the direct result of hatred whipped up by the hate media.”
In 2016, when the Delhi Police were looking for Khalid in connection with the sedition case against him, his father had registered a complaint alleging that he had received a phone call, wherein the caller had “threatened to kill Umar” if he did not leave the country”.