Police trying to zero in on Jamia shooters through vehicle registration number caught on camera

The Delhi Police, probing the third firing incident at anti-CAA protests in Jamia Nagar area here, are zeroing in on the two accused with their two-wheeler's registration number that was caught on cameras.

Two unidentified persons had opened fire during the ongoing protests at the Jamia Millia Islamia late on Sunday. Though no one was injured in the incident, there was panic among those present at the spot.

Hundreds of protestors stormed into the Jamia Nagar police station and remained there till around 4 am to ensure that the police accepted their complaint and registered an FIR against the alleged accused.

"As usual, the police weren't taking any complaint and after two to three hours of citizens shouting slogans and approaching cops inside the police station, the FIR was registered," claimed Mohd Hafeez, a Jamia student who was at the police station.

"We had taken photographs of the red scooter which the accused had used and based on the same identified its registration number. It is up to police to now verify and see if the owner of the vehicle and the accused are the same or if the accused used someone else's vehicle," he said.

The Jamia Nagar police, however, denied that there was any delay in lodging the FIR.

"We carried out intensive search of the place where the firing took place near Gate no 7 (of the varsity campus). We found no empty cartridges there. We are, therefore, probing further to identify the accused and verify the crime. The FIR was lodged after due procedure," in-charge DCP, South East, Gyanesh Kumar said.

The Jamia Nagar police stated that a few persons approached them during the registration of the FIR saying they had seen the red scooter that was allegedly used for the crime.

The police has claimed that no one could capture the full registration number of the two-wheeler.

"We have the same series of the vehicle number. However, according to some persons the last digit is 2 while as per some it is 4. There are many vehicles with the same series (registration) and we are now verifying information to see what is the actual number of the vehicle used in the crime," Jamia Nagar Inspector Upendra Singh told PTI.

As per the vehicle registration records, the owner of the two-wheeler with the registration number caught on camera apparently ending with the digit 2 belongs to a man while that ending with 4 belongs to a woman, police said.

The police is cross verifying the CCTV cameras and other videos of the incident captured by some protestors to ascertain whether the number ends with 2 or 4, they said.

"The accused will be identified soon," Singh said.

Prior to Sunday's incident, Kapil Gujjar, a resident of Dallupura village on the outskirts of Delhi, had fired at the protest spot in Shaheen Baag on February 1. Gujjar had allegedly shouted, "Humare desh men aur kisi ki nahi sirf Hindu ki chalegi" (only Hindus shall have a say in our country, no one else). He was later arrested by the Jamia Nagar police.

Four days ago, a minor was arrested for brandishing a gun and firing at protesters at the Jamia University, injuring media student Shadab Farooq. The minor had allegedly shouted, "Yeh lo Azadi".

Following these incidents, the Election Commission shunted out DCP South East Chinmay Biswal on February 2. Additional DCP Kumar has been handed over the charge of the South East Zone.