‘There’s photo proof to link Shaheen Bagh shooter to AAP’: Delhi police

Kapil Gujjar was arrested by Delhi police last week after he fired multiple shots at Shaheen Bagh, a site where people were protesting against amended new citizenship law in New Delhi .

Kapil Gujjar, the 23-year-old man who fired shots in the air near the Shaheen Bagh protest site last week is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi Police claimed on Tuesday. Rajesh Deo, a senior crime branch officer said investigators had recovered photographs from Kapil Gujjar’s phone after his arrest that placed him in the company of AAP leaders.

Police take away Kapil Gujjarn after he allegedly opened fire in the Shaheen Bagh area of New Delhi, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. (PTI photo)

During his interrogation, Deo told reporters, Kapil Gujjar had disclosed that he and his father Choudhary Gaje Singh had joined Arvind Kejriwal’s party a year ago. Choudhary Gaje Singh, a former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader, had fought Delhi Assembly and municipal elections on the BSP ticket in 2008 and 2012.

When HT had spoken to Choudhary Gaje Singh on Sunday, he had spoken about the inconvenience that the Shaheen Bagh protest had led to, disapproved of his son’s action and insisted that he had been out of politics for the last two years.

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Kapil Gujjar was caught on Saturday at Shaheen Bagh after he fired at least two shots 150 metres from the protest site. Just two days earlier, a minor had shot at protesters marching from Jamia to Rajghat protesting the new citizenship law.

As he was being taken away, Kapil Gujjar was seen on camera saying, “No other community will have a say in this country. Only Hindus will”.

Deo’s statement on Tuesday - that came minutes after photographs of Kapil Gujjar at an AAP event were leaked -- is expected to give the Bharatiya Janata Party ammunition to accuse AAP of orchestrating the firing incidents to target the BJP and its leaders.

AAP lawmaker Sanjay Singh, who is seen in one of the photographs where Kapil Gujjar is present, launched a counterattack at the BJP and the police, which reports to the home ministry via the Lt-Governor.

Sanjay Singh also brushed aside the photographs, insisting that being in the same frame as someone else did not mean anything.

Singh said he quit politics two years ago and has not been associated with any political organisation since. Singh claimed that though he has not spoken to his son after he had been arrested by the police, his act was not “intended to establish himself in politics”.

“My son did not show any interest in politics. After leaving politics, my two sons and I are into our dairy business. We own a gaushala in Ghazipur. My two sons assist me in supplying milk to parts of the city and manage the business,” added Singh.