JNU student leader Umar Khalid, in a Facebook post, claimed to identify the person who fired at him recently at under a thick security cover by an unidentified man at the Constitution Club near Parliament.
In the post, Khalid claimed:
However, two men, believed to be from Haryana, in a four minute long WhatsApp video, have claimed the attack on Umar Khalid. The two men identified themselves as Sarvesh Shahpur and Naveen Dalal, said that they would surrender at the house of Sikh revolutionary Kartar Singh Sarabha on August 17.
They maintained that they “wanted to give a gift to the people on the occasion of Independence Day.” An official from the Special Cell told Indian Express, “If their claim found to be corroborative, they will be arrested.”
Earlier today, the Delhi Police has started to track the phone number which was used to send threats to Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and JNU student Shehla Rashid after Khalid was shot at.
ALSO READ: They cannot browbeat us into silence: Umar Khalid on his attempted killing
According to sources in the Delhi Police Special Cell, it is being probed whether the number is registered in a foreign country. “We will contact the service provider… to ascertain which country the messages came from,” said a police officer. Police sources said once they identify the country, they can access the details of the user.
The messages were sent to Rashid and Mewani in June and in August. The sender had claimed to be Indian gangster Ravi Pujary. The sender had told Mewani that he would harm Khalid.
Khalid told The Indian Express, “I was called today to the Special Cell office in Lodhi Road for both cases and the security issue. I was made to submit another application regarding security. They again said they will assess the threat and get back to me. With regard to this case, I was taken to the spot and made to recount the whole incident.”
Umar was at the Club to attend an event, “Khauff Se Azaadi”, organised by ‘United Against Hate’ when he was shot at. “There is an atmosphere of fear in the country, and anybody who speaks against the government is threatened,” he said after the attack.
“We were at a tea stall when a man in white shirt came, pushed and opened fire at him. Khalid lost his balance, fell down and the bullet missed him. We tried to catch the man. He fired in the air but when the pistol slipped off his hands, he fled,” an eyewitness told news agency ANI.
Fellow JNU student and activist Shehla Rashid tweeted about the incident.
“Shocking and highly condemnable: a guy attacked Umar Khalid from behind and tried to shoot him in Delhi. This is the direct result of hatred whipped up by Republic TV & other hate media. I spoke to Umar. He’s okay, but we should be very very worried about his safety,” she tweeted.
