Men who attacked Chandra Shekhar Aazad were unhappy with his recent remarks: police

The UP Police arrested the four in Haryana’s Ambala district Saturday. Three of the accused hail from Saharanpur and one from Haryana. The accused have been identified as Vikas alias Vicky, son of Preetam Singh; Prashant; Lovish; and Vikas alias Vicky, son of Shivkumar, a resident of Karnal in Haryana. The other Vikas, Prashant, and Lovish are residents of Randkhandi village in UP’s Saharanpur. All the accused are in their 20s.

The police have seized two country-made pistols, cartridges and a car allegedly used in the crime based on the information provided by the accused.

During interrogation, the accused reportedly told the police they were returning from Meerut and stopped at a dhaba near a toll plaza in Saharanpur Wednesday morning. They found that a large crowd had gathered near the dhaba. They then learnt that Chandra Shekhar Aazad would be passing through the area on his way to attend an event in Deoband.

“During interrogation, the arrested accused said that they were unhappy with the remarks that Chandra Shekhar Aazad had made recently. On coming to know Aazad was going to take part in a function in Deoband, the accused made the plan to attack him on the spot,” said Assistant Superintendent of Police (Saharanpur) Sagar Jain.

According to the police, the assailants reached Deoband and conducted a recce of the place. “Assailants were carrying two country-made pistols. The vehicle they used to conduct the recce belonged to Vikas from Haryana,” said Jain.

“When Aazad’s vehicle slowed down owing to a speed breaker, the assailants came from behind and opened fire on him. Three bullets were fired at Aazad’s vehicle. Two were fired by Vikas of Saharanpur and one by Prashant,” added another police officer.

After opening fire, the assailants escaped from the spot in their vehicle.

The police have claimed that the accused left the vehicle as it ran out of petrol soon. The youths then reached Ambala after two days.

The police further said they identified the accused with the help of CCTV footage, cell phone records, and human intelligence. “In the meantime, we came to know through a source that the assailants were planning to surrender in a court in Ambala,” said Jain.

A police team left for Saharanpur and with the help of Haryana’s Special Task Force (STF) arrested the four accused in Shahzadpur on July 1 morning.

Jain said the accused were produced before a local court Sunday, and they have been sent to judicial custody. “We would move the court to seek their police custody remand for questioning…” added Jain.

The accused perform odd jobs and come from lower middle-class families, said a police officer.

As per police records, Lovish and Vikas (UP) have four cases each against them including an attempt to murder and criminal intimidation. Prashant has two cases including criminal intimidation while Vikas of Haryana has one case against him.