Gun that Shahrukh wielded yet to be recovered

New Delhi: Even a day after the police arrested Mohammad Shahrukh, the man who was caught on camera aiming a pistol at a policeman during the communal riots in north-east

New Delhi: Even a day after the police arrested Mohammad Shahrukh, the man who was caught on camera aiming a pistol at a policeman during the communal riots in north-east Delhi on February 24, the gun was yet to be recovered despite several raids in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.

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The police said they interrogating Shahrukh to find the gun, They said they are also examining his phone call records to ascertain if he was in touch with any local politicians, criminals, or groups that actively participated in the riots as part of what the officers called a “larger conspiracy”.

Last Monday, Shahrukh, wearing a red shirt and blue trousers, was seen firing multiple gunshots amid heavy stone-pelting as clashes between Hindus and Muslims broke out on the Jafrabad-Maujpur road. The video showed him emerging from a crowd brandishing a pistol in his right hand. Shahrukh then pointed the pistol at a policeman, armed only with a baton, who tried to stop him, before shooting in the direction of a rival mob across the road. Police said that the bullets did not hit anyone.

Investigators are also are searching Shahrukh’s old cellphone, which he claimed to have threw somewhere enroute to Jalandhar after he came to know that a video showing him targeting a gun at a policeman had gone viral. He purchased a new phone in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli on February 29, from where he was eventually arrested on Tuesday.

“Shahrukh deleted all his social media accounts before throwing his old phone. We are trying to recover the phone, as it may help us retrieve deleted pictures, videos and other data which could establish his association with people or groups involved in the riots,” said a police officer associated with the case. Shahrukh has been booked under sections pertaining to attempt to murder and using criminal force against a public servant.

Investigators said Shahrukh has been misleading them and constantly changing his claims regarding the places where he threw the gun and abandoned the car, which he used to flee the city.

Another investigator said Shahrukh panicked after watching his video go viral on TV and social media. He left his Jafrabad home on a bike. He parked the motorcycle at his uncle’s home in Ghonda and borrowed his car, the officer said.

“Shahrukh told us that he first went to a nightclub in Hauz Khas village and stayed there for about two hours. He then reached Connaught Place, parked his car there and slept inside,” the officer quoted Shahrukh as telling the police.

Around 5am, the officer said, Shahrukh left for Jalandhar in the car, hoping to get a safe shelter in his father’s ancestral village. Somewhere near Murthal in Haryana his car broke down and he got it repaired. Shahrukh had to change his route from Ambala, as his relative in Jalandhar refused to harbour him by saying that his video was all over news channels and social media.

Shahrukh went to his mother’s ancestral home in a remote village near Kairana in UP where he took shelter at the home of a relative, who was unaware of the video. He was caught from near a bus terminal in Shamli on Tuesday, the police said.

After his arrest on Tuesday, the police had said that Shahrukh was not involved in any previous criminal case, but his father was involved in cases of narcotics and supplying fake currency. Shahrukh runs a socks manufacturing unit in north-east Delhi.

A total of 47 people were killed and over 350 people were injured in Delhi riots between February 23 and 25.