Two people have been arrested in connection with an attack on All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi's convoy near Chhajarsi toll plaza on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on Thursday.
The Lok Sabha MP had earlier tweeted an image of his car claiming four rounds were shot at the vehicle while he was returning from a roadshow in Meerut, UP. Hapur police meanwhile arrested two persons in connection with the attack and an illegal pistol was recovered from one of the perpetrators.
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A tweet from the official Twitter handle of Hapur police on February 3 reads '02 unknown persons opened fire on the convoy of @asadowaisi under Pilkhuwa (Hapur) police station. Taking quick action @hapurpolice arrested both the accused along with illegal arms and the car used in the incident. Byte of SP Hapur @deepakbhuker'.
Both the accused have been identified as Sachin Sharma and Shubham hailing from Badalpur and Saharanpur respectively. Hapur Superintendent of Police Deepak Bhuker told media persons that the accused Sachin admitted to the police that they were hurt by Owaisi's anti-Hindu statements.
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BOOM contacted Circle Officer, Hapur to get more details on the case. The CO told BOOM that the accused have been sent on a 14-day remand. "The accused will be interrogated. As of now they have not spoken about any political affiliation," the CO said.
Political Affiliation of Accused In News
BOOM found the Facebook page of Sachin Sharma was being operated in the name देशभक्त सचिन हिन्दू (Neta G). The Facebook page of the accused shows he was not very active on the social media platform with his last post shared on October 3 last year.
We compared the pictures of Sachin Sharma on the profile with that shared by the Hapur police and found them to be of the same person.
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In July 2017, Sachin Sharma had shared a screenshot of his BJP membership slip on Facebook.
According to the slip, his membership number is 1012334171.
Pictures of Sachin with BJP leaders including deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma can be seen posted throughout his Facebook timeline.
According to news reports, Sachin's father is a contractor who supplies labourers to private companies. The accused is a law student.
Not much apart from the name of the second accused is known as of now.
BOOM tried contacting BJP leaders with whom Sachin Sharma's photos are viral on social media but could not get through. The report will be updated when we hear from them.