Day after attack in UP, Asaduddin Owaisi gets Z security
A day after shots were fired at the vehicle of Lok Sabha MP and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi in western Uttar Pradesh, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has accorded him Z category security.
Owaisi’s security detail will include six-eight armed commandoes while travelling apart from security at his residence.
Owaisi, whose party is contesting 100 seats in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, had a close call on Thursday when shots were fired at a vehicle he was travelling in while. The attack came when Owaisi was returning to Delhi from Meerut. The Uttar Pradesh Police subsequently arrested two people in connection with the incident and also recovered the arms used for the attack. No one was injured in the attack.
कुछ देर पहले छिजारसी टोल गेट पर मेरी गाड़ी पर गोलियाँ चलाई गयी। 4 राउंड फ़ायर हुए। 3-4 लोग थे, सब के सब भाग गए और हथियार वहीं छोड़ गए। मेरी गाड़ी पंक्चर हो गयी, लेकिन मैं दूसरी गाड़ी में बैठ कर वहाँ से निकल गया। हम सब महफ़ूज़ हैं। अलहमदु’लिलाह। pic.twitter.com/Q55qJbYRih
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) February 3, 2022
According to police, four shots were fired at Owaisi’s vehicle around 5.30 pm at Chhajarsi toll plaza near Pilkhuwa in Hapur district.
Also read | Asaduddin Owaisi says shots fired at his car in UP
According to Owaisi, the attack on Thursday punctured a tyre and he had to switch vehicles.
Sachin Pandit, a resident of Badalpur in Gautam Buddh Nagar, was arrested from the spot and an unlicensed pistol was recovered. A white Alto car was seized. Sharma’s alleged accomplice, identified as Shubham of Saharanpur, was arrested later as he managed to escape.
Meanwhile, Sachin Pandit, a law student from Durai village in the Badalpur area of Greater Noida, posted a BJP membership slip on his social media profile.
The slip mentions Sachin Pandit as ‘Deshbhakt Sachin Hindu’. Pictures of Sachin with BJP leaders, including UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, are now going viral on social media.
Sachin’s father, Vinod Pandit, works for private companies on contract. The police found that Sachin was earlier booked in an attempt-to-murder case.
Soon after Sachin was arrested, the Greater Noida Police began interrogating his relatives. The interrogation went on for about five hours on Thursday night.
This, however, isn’t the first time the Hyderabad MP has come under attack. In September 2021, Owaisi’s official residence on New Delhi’s Ashoka Road was vandalised by a group of Hindu Sena men. The attackers damaged the door and windows, broke the nameplate, hurled an axe at the house and called the parliamentarian a “jihadi”.
The Delhi Police arrested five men back then.
After Thursday’s attack Owaisi said he would meet the Lok Sabha Speaker and write to the Election Commission of India.
