An FIR was registered under the Arms Act and a case of attempt to murder lodged against the youth who opened fire on Thursday at the protesters from Jamia Millia Islamia who had taken out an anti-CAA march to Rajghat.
According to sources, the case has been registered against the 17-year-old class 11 student on the basis of the statement of the injured Jamia student Shadab who sustained a bullet injury on his arm after the shooter opened fire at the gathering.
Several participants of the protest said the man who opened fire was a "follower of Nathuram Godse". "We are following the ideology of Gandhi, but the same ideology that killed Mahatma wanted to kill us," said a participant.
According to witnesses, a man was seen raising religious slogans before he opened fire with a country-made pistol at the rally. "He was shouting 'Deta hu tumhe azadi' (Let me give you freedom). He then shouted 'Jai Shri Ram' and opened fire," said a protestor.
"The accused was taken into custody immediately after the incident. The weapon used by the attacker in the firing was also seized," Delhi Police spokesperson Anil Mittal told IANS on Thursday.
The accused will now be questioned by the Crime Branch as the probe into the incident has been handed over to it, Delhi Police HQ said in a statement.
Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik has handed over the investigation of the case to a special team of the Crime Branch.
According to sources, as soon as the investigation was transferred, the Crime Branch took possession of the weapon used in the shooting incident along with the FIR that was registered at a police station in New Friends Colony.
The assailant was also live on Facebook right before he opened fire on the protesters on Thursday. At around 1 pm, the youth started live videos showing the protest march to Raj Ghat. Another live video simply has a selfie video of him, wearing a black full-sleeve jacket, which he is seen wearing in the visuals put out after he opened fire.
While he didn’t say anything in the video, his older posts were more revealing. Against a bright red background, his text posts seem to indicate that he was preparing for some kind of consequences of what he was about to do. Another post claimed ‘no Hindu media’ was present at the spot. Other posts are more threatening, abusing the protesters at Shaheen Bagh, and one claiming that he is ‘giving freedom’.
(With inputs from Sanjeev Kumar Singh Chauhan - IANS)