JNU scholar Umar Khalid, accused of raising anti-national slogans in 2016, on Monday survived an attempt to kill him in the heart of the capital, saying he escaped only because of his friends.
Police, however, said it was not clear whether the gunshot fired by the attacker was aimed at him or not.
A shaken Khalid told the media that a man approached him with a gun when he was outside the Constitution Hall, tried to overpower him and shoot him down.
"Thankfully, my friends were there with me. They tried to overpower him but he ran away and he fired from across the road.
"I was very scared at that moment when he pointed a gun at me. At that moment, I was reminded of what happened to (writer activist) Gauri Lankesh. I thought that moment has arrived," Khalid said.
Joint Commissioner of Police Ajay Chaudhary said preliminary investigation showed that an unknown man dragged Khalid when he was with five friends at a tea stall outside the Constitution Club, not far from Parliament.
"A scuffle took place between them," the officer said. "The accused managed to escape. It is not clear yet whether the attacker fired or not with his weapon."
He said the case was being probed from all possible angles. A weapon found at the spot was being examined. "We have deployed the best officers to nab the attacker."
Khalid went to the Constitution Club to attend a "United Against Hate" programme where the listed speakers included noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan, MP Manoj Jha and journalist Amit Sen Gupta.
Arif, a witness to the crime, said Khalid was with him when they were targeted. He said there were at least two attackers. But police spoke about only one attacker.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Madhur Verma earlier quoted Khalid as saying that someone pounced on him and pushed him around 2.30 p.m.
"Thereafter he tried to fire at Khalid. But the person couldn't fire immediately," Verma said.
The officer said the local police were not informed about the programme at the Constitution Club, a popular venue for seminars, meetings and press conferences.
The incident took place about half-a-kilometre from Parliament and behind the high-security Reserve Bank of India. The Constitution Club is itself located in a block of apartments, many of which are allocated to MPs.
Wage a motivated hate campaign against individuals & sooner or later someone will feel emboldened enough to take the law in to their own hands. The attack on @UmarKhalidJNU is the direct result of the relentless hate campaign using both social & mainstream media. Glad he’s well.
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) August 13, 2018
Shocking and highly condemnable: a guy attacked Umar Khalid from behind and tried to shoot him in Delhi. This is the direct result of hatred whipped up by Republic TV & other hate media. I spoke to Umar. He's okay, but we should be very very worried about his safety.
— Shehla Rashid (@Shehla_Rashid) August 13, 2018
Khalid was rusticated and fined by the Jawaharlal Nehru University last month after he along with two others -- Kanhaiya Kumar and Anirban Bhattacharya -- were found guilty of raising anti-national slogans at a poetry-reading event in the campus on February 9, 2016.
Khalid said he felt that Monday's incident was an attempt to silence anyone who raise their voice against the Modi government.
He said that in the last two years, since the JNU episode which led to his jailing, "there has been misinformation everywhere" about him and his politics. He accused a section of the media of spreading propaganda against him.
PASSERBY, SHOPKEEPERS RECOUNT GUN ATTACK ON UMAR KHALID NEAR PARLIAMENT
Shopkeepers and passersby were taken aback when they heard gunshots as some unidentified men targeted JNU student leader Umar Khalid this afternoon at Constitution Club, a venue for several political debates and seminars.
Some unidentified men targeted Umar Khalid in the high security area near Parliament and gunshots were heard, but he escaped unhurt, according to eyewitnesses, even as the police asserted it will verify the incident.
Shopkeepers and witnesses had contradicting stories to narrate after the incident. While some claimed that the accused deliberately dropped the weapon, others claimed that the weapon fell out of the pocket of one of the accused when they were running. A shopkeeper whose shop is right opposite to the venue was busy preparing tea when he witnessed two men running out of the main gate of the club.
पत्रकार @santoshji रफी मार्ग पर गोलीकांड के चश्मदीद हैं,चाय की दुकान पर अचानक दो लड़कों के बीच झगड़ा हुआ,एक लड़की ने बीच-बचाव की कोशिश की,तभी एक लड़के ने पिस्तौल निकालकर फायर किया लेकिन गोली नहीं चली,बाद में हमलावर हवाई फायर कर फरार हो गया।टब तक उमर खालिद मौके पर नहीं था। pic.twitter.com/2Hz7t143LB
— Vikas Bhadauria ABP (@vikasbha) August 13, 2018
"I was busy making tea and attending customers. I saw two men running out from the main gate of the Constitution Club. They crossed the road and apparently fired a bullet after reaching a distance and left the weapon before fleeing from the spot," he said.
He, however, said he did not see them firing and had just heard a loud noise which resembled that of a firecracker.
Another shopkeeper, who has a shop opposite the venue, said he noticed two men fighting outside the Constitution Club.
"I saw them running towards the road and heard gunshot. I saw that they had left the gun before escaping. Later, people started gathering on the road after hearing the noise," he said.
Shopkeepers stationed outside the Constitution Club also claimed they heard gun shots.
"It was like any other usual day. I was taken aback when I heard the firing. I first thought the sound was caused due to tyre burst. A crowd gathered and later we got to know that someone was attacked," he added.
Passersby also questioned the law and order situation in the city, just two days ahead of the Independence Day.
A passerby, who heard the gunshot, said he was quite scared and raised questions on police's claims of putting a tight security in the area.
"I had read in the papers today that there would be high security in the national capital owing to the Independence Day. But this is shocking. Armed men were roaming in the area without any checks and on top of that, they even managed to flee," he added.
Another passerby said if the bullet was fired in the air, it could have hit anyone.
"The bullet could have hit any passerby. Lutyens' Delhi is considered to be one of the most secure zones since it houses many important buildings. It is surprising that the security is so lax in this part of Delhi," he added.
