Mounting evidence that Jamia shooting was a ‘set up’: Will Delhi Police clarify?

How did the CBSE marksheet of the ‘teenaged terrorist’ Desh Bhakt ( name changed), who brandished a country-made pistol and fired a shot at Jamia on Thursday, find its way to the news agency ANI within hours of the incident?

The news agency was quick to tweet the marksheet, evidently in an attempt to show that the shooter was a minor. By then the media had identified him by name, accessed his Facebook Page, found out his links to the rabid Bajrang Dal. It was also reported that he was live streaming before opening fire and injuring a student.

Was the terrorist carrying the marksheet with him? Why would he do so in the first place? While the news agency has not clarified how it got access to the marksheet, the inference is that the agency caught hold of the image from Delhi Police. So, the next question is how did the police get it?

Video clips circulating of the incident have added to the suspicion that it was a set-up. The swagger with which the teenaged terrorist walks back towards the policemen indicates as much. Contrary to a Delhi Police spokesman claiming that it all happened in a ‘split second’, the video clips show a large group of photographers and videographers following the miscreant and recording his movement as he struts back and swivels around, dramatically pointing his countrymade pistol.

The policemen watch him brandishing the pistol and walk back towards them as is evident in the videos like this:

Someone reacted on Twitter and said, “Look at the police standing behind. One has his arms resting on his lathi. One has his arms folded across the chest, yet another with hand in the pocket. Only one policeman is alert and is shooting at the gunman. With his phone camera.”

Journalist Hartosh Singh Bal tweeted, “That the marksheet was so readily made available, that too through this particular agency, indicates prior planning. Old Punjab village trick in a feud, pick the youngster closest to the age of 18 to carry out any act of violence.”

There were several sarcastic comments and one of them read, “Untrue that the Delhi Police just stood there refusing to assist at #Jamia today, when they refused to move the barricades to get the injured student out, so the bleeding guy had to climb over the barricade to get help. They were assisting exactly who they were meant to assist.”

The confidence of the miscreant also did not go unnoticed. “What was particularly strange about the behaviour of the shooter at Jamia was that he seemed supremely confident that he could brandish his pistol with his back to the police and actually moving back towards them without any fear of being taken out. Police didn’t react either.”

While Delhi Police are not expected to dispel the doubts, for some reason they prevented a lawyer and Dalit activist Chandrashekhar Azad from meeting the injured Jamia student at AIIMS. The lawyer, Mehmood Pracha, tweeted : “Very intriguing why @DelhiPolice is not allowing @BhimArmyChief and me to meet injured Shadab or inform his medical details.”