Shooter at Shaheen Bagh AAP member, claims Delhi Police

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Tuesday claimed that Kapil Gujjar, the man arrested for firing in the air twice near the sit-in protest site in Shaheen Bagh last weekend, was a member of the Aam Aadmi Party since early 2019. Crime branch DCP Rajesh Deo said: “We found pictures in his phone during the course of the investigation. Kapil has confessed that he and his father Gaje Singh joined AAP sometime in January-February 2019.”

Deo alleged photos depicted Gujjar with several senior leaders of Aam Aadmi Party and he ‘admitted’ that his father was also an AAP member. Gaje Singh had contested the MCD elections in 2012 on a BSP ticket too. In the photos, which Delhi Police purportedly accessed from Gujjar’s phone, he is seen with AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Aatishi.

AAP denied any links with Gujjar. AAP’s Sanjay Singh questioned the police for releasing photos before completion of investigation. “There is no point in releasing such photographs. This is part of BJP’s dirty politics. The crime should be investigated and stern action should be taken against the culprit,” he said. Delhi goes to the polls on Saturday, where AAP is pitted against the BJP and Congress.


Gujjar arrived in Shaheen Bagh area on Saturday night and fired in the air twice before he was overpowered by people and police and taken into custody. Last Thursday, a ‘juvenile’ fired at a peace rally outside Jamia university injuring a student. He was handed to the Juvenile Justice Board and his bone ossification test to determine if he was a minor was to be done. There has been no word on the case since. The crime branch of Delhi police is also probing the case where a masked mob of around 100 attacked protesting students and teachers in Jawaharlal Nehru University early last month.

In a related development on Tuesday, a group of men gathered near the Jamia university on Tuesday, carrying national flags and shouted “Jai Shri Ram” and “goli maro,” adds PTI. Hafeez Azmi, a student protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act in the university, said “the group came from Sukhdev Vihar direction, shouting slogans. They stopped at the barricade at gate no. 1, near the protest site, and shouted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘goli maro’ for 10 minutes, while the police watched.”

Some students showed video clips where policemen are purportedly seen walking along with the group. Shortly after the incident, officials from the Jamia university proctor’s office and Jamia Nagar police station visited the spot to check security arrangements. The student protesters said the Delhi Police had made claims of providing security but incidents of sloganeering and firing continued unabated.