Azad Samaj Party national president Chandra Shekhar Aazad's car was fired upon on Wednesday evening, with one bullet grazing him.
Aazad, who is also the chief of the Bhim Army (an Ambedkarite and Dalit rights organisation founded in 2015), said his car was at some distance from the vehicles of his party colleagues when armed men from another vehicle opened fire.
“The vehicle then sped off on the Saharanpur road… I was somewhat anxious and asked my vehicle to take a u-turn,” said Aazad from the Saharanpur district hospital to which he was referred.
There were five people in Aazad’s vehicle, and he recalled that “one of them” was bleeding from his arm and perhaps hurt.
Police sources said Special DGP, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar was personally monitoring the situation and that all efforts were on to nab the assailants at the earliest.
The attack, that took place in Deoband, drew immense criticism from the opposition which says the incident has once again exposed the truth of the law and order situation in the state.
Samajwadi Party president, Akhilesh Yadav tweeted, “If public representatives are not safe then what about the common man”.
In the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections, Aazad had fought from Gorakhpur against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and lost, coming in fourth from the constituency.
Senior SP leader Shivpal Yadav took to social media to declare that the attack was an alarm for the “hollow law and order situation” in the state.
A thick cover of security was thrown around the Saharanpur district hospital to which Aazad was referred to after initial treatment at the Community Health Centre at Deoband. Hundreds of angry supporters have gathered outside the hospital.
Vipin Tanda, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Saharanpur, said, “The bullet grazed his abdomen…he is out of danger…we shall investigate on the basis of the sequence of events narrated to us and take necessary action….we will examine all available CCTV footage too”.