A local court in Delhi has granted bail to Kapil Gujjar, who fired shots near anti-Citizenship Act protestors in the national Capital’s Shaheen Bagh locality on February 1, Live Law reported on Saturday.
“On considering the totality of facts and circumstances, the accused Kapil Baisala is admitted to bail on furnishing bail bond in a sum of Rs 25,000 with one surety in the like amount...” the court said. Gujjar’s counsel contended that the first information report in the case was filed with an unexplained delay of six hours and the accused had been falsely implicated.
The lawyer also argued that the accused was in jail for a while but nothing had been recovered from him, adding that the inquiry was almost complete and therefore the accused was not required for further investigation.
On February 1, Gujjar had fired shots in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, which has emerged as a centre of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens. Hundreds of women have been peacefully protesting at Shaheen Bagh since December 15.
On February 6, the Delhi Police told a court that shooting in Shaheen Bagh was a “well-thought-out” incident, and added that the gunman needs to be interrogated to ascertain if he was part of any “political conspiracy”. The police claimed that Gujjar did not fire his gun in a rush of blood.
A controversy had emerged after reports claimed Gujjar was associated with the Aam Aadmi Party. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Rajesh Deo had told reporters that photographs recovered from Gujjar’s phone established that he had joined the Arvind Kejriwal-led party a year ago along with his father.
Deo’s claims only three days ahead of the Delhi Assembly election set off a war of words between the AAP and the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, Deo was taken off poll duty by the Election Commission and warned for making comments about an investigation with “political connotations”.
Later, Gujjar’s father claimed that his son is a “supporter” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He added that Gujjar had “nothing to do with politics”.
After Deo’s comments to the media, the AAP had questioned the police investigation. Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh accused Deo of acting at the behest of the BJP, and told him to pin the lotus – the saffron party’s symbol – on his shirt.
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