Umar Khalid shot at in Delhi, escapes unhurt

New Delhi: JNU scholar Umar Khalid was allegedly fired upon outside the Constitution Club of India on Monday afternoon at around 2:30 pm when he was at a tea stall with his friends. The attacker first attacked him and pushed him down but when his friends intervened, he left the spot allegedly firing a shot in the air. The attacker also left behind the pistol before fleeing.

Umar Khalid was at the Constitution Club to attend a programme 'Khauf se Azadi' which had Prashant Bhushan, missing JNU scholar Najeeb Ahmed's mother Fatima Nafees, Dr. Kafeel Khan and some family members of the lynching victims. Besides, some media persons who were invited as guests were also there. The programme was organised by a group named 'United against Hate'.

"We have deployed our best officers to investigate the case. Our team is collecting the CCTV footage to get some clue about the attacker. The weapon that the attacker left on spot is being checked to know if the shot was fired," said Ajay Chowdhary, Joint CP(New Delhi).

" There was an attempt to kill me. A person came with a gun and tried to overpower me, tried to shoot me down. I was scared and thought of Gauri Lankesh when he pointed the gun at me. I thought the moment has arrived. When my friends intervened, he fled and fired from across the road," Umar Khalid said.

He blamed a certain section of the media and social media trolls to spread the hateful campaign and propaganda in the past two years to be branded as anti-national for questioning the present government policies.

When the attacker was chased by Khalid's friends, he left the weapon outside the INS building gate. Eyewitness, mostly vendors in the area said that the attacker is a well built and tall man.

"I heard a gunshot and then saw a group of people across the road. Definitely, a shot was fired," said a tea vendor outside the Constitution Club.