Miffed man fires shots from toy pistol at MLA’s office

Miffed over his area MLA not taking his phone calls, a 45-year-old man allegedly ‘fired’ several ‘rounds’ from a toy pistol outside Tri Nagar Congress legislator Anil Bharadwaj’s office at Chandralok in North-West Delhi on Tuesday morning. Mr. Bharadwaj was not present in his office at the time of the incident.

Several party workers were waiting for Mr. Bharadwaj to come to his office when the alleged attacker, identified as Ravinder Yadav, struck. They claimed that it was a lucky escape for Mr. Bharadwaj as Ravinder “seemed determined to harm him”.

On most days, the MLA is usually present in his office during that time of the day but had gone to a temple on account of the day being Tuesday.

Describing the sequence of events, party functionary Bobby said: “It was around 11 a.m. when the man entered the office. Even before we could ask who he was or what his purpose of visit was, he brandished his gun and started using foul language against Mr. Bharadwaj and his personal assistant Pappu, both of whom were not present there. He asked us their whereabouts and threatened that he would kill both of them and kept abusing us.”

Bobby added that even as the alleged attacker was screaming, he along with his other party colleagues tried to pacify him but to no avail.

“We started talking to him and tried to take him outside the office. Upon this, he said: ‘If not the MLA, I will kill his men’ and fired in the air near the main gate. He fired some more rounds aiming at the boundary and was overpowered by us when he tried to reload the pistol. In between, one of us had made a call to the Police Control Room and handed him over to the police when the police reached the spot,” said Bobby, who even claimed that Ravinder tried to target him.

According to the police, the weapon was seized from the attacker. On a closer examination, however, they discovered that it was a toy pistol whose barrel was closed and so it could only produce a sound. Interestingly, the case was registered under section of the Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to attempt to murder and that under Arms Act.

During interrogation, Ravinder purportedly told the police that he himself was a Congress party worker and was crossed with Mr. Bharadwaj as he never answered his calls. However, party workers at the spot refuted his claims, some even saying that it was the first time they had seen him.

Ravinder’s medical examination confirmed that he was in an inebriated stated at the time of the incident.