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Dissatisfied with police probe, Aazad demands CBI inquiry into attack on him
Bhim Army founder Chandra Shekhar Aazad said CBI investigation will expose who were involved in the conspiracy of attack
Raising questions over the revelations made by police regarding the recent attack on him, Bhim Army founder Chandra Shekhar Aazad has demanded a CBI probe into the incident so that those who hatched the conspiracy against him can be exposed.
Four assailants riding in a car had allegedly opened indiscriminate firing on the vehicle of Aazad near Gandhi Nagar colony under Deoband police station limits in Saharanpur district when he was returning from his party worker’s house on June 28 evening.
On July 1, the Ambala unit of Haryana Special Task Force in coordination with the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested four people near a dhaba in Shahzadpur area of Ambala. As per the police, during interrogation the arrested ones told them that they shot at Bhim Army founder because they were angry over his statements made in the past few months.
The accused were identified as Vikas, Prashant and Lovish, all from UP’s Saharanpur. The fourth accused Vikas hails from Haryana’s Karnal.
Speaking to media persons at his residence in Chutmalpur in Saharanpur on Sunday (July 2) evening, Aazad expressed his dissatisfaction over the police version. He also claimed that a pistol was used to attack him, while the police had recovered two country made pistols from the possession of those arrested.
“A CBI investigation will expose who were involved in the conspiracy of attack,” he said. Police should honestly find out “who paid the attackers,” he demanded. Aazad alleged that as part of the conspiracy, the attackers parked the car in Gurjar-dominated village Miragpur so that there could be an ethnic clash.
He said Bhim Army workers were also collecting information at their level. The Bhim Army chief appealed to police that the families of the attackers should not be troubled for their act. He reiterated that such attacks made him stronger.
“If atrocities are committed against women, I will speak. No matter how many bullets someone fires, I am not afraid,” he added. On deputy CM Brajesh Pathak’s statement of calling him a friend and providing security, he said if the state government was so concerned, he would not have been attacked in the first place.
Refuting Aazad’s charges, Saharanpur SSP Vipin Tada said his (Bhim Army chief) own men provided them the empty cartridges of the bullets fired at him and visibly they were of .315 bore.
“Anyone can easily differentiate between a cartridge of .315 bore and other cartridges”, he said. The SSP said the empty cartridges would be sent for forensic test. Tada further said attackers left the car in village Miragpur because they were known to a person there.
“Their car was running out of fuel and so they abandoned it there anticipating that the person known to him in the village will drop it somewhere else but he informed the villagers and police recovered the car,” said Tada. About probe into the incident, the SSP said it was being carried out from all possible angles, including the attackers’ alleged intention to provoke caste clashes.
