Fired in a fit of rage, Sharukh Pathan tells cops

New Delhi, Mar 04: Sharukh Pathan, the 23 year old man arrested for wielding a gun during the Delhi riots has told the police that he fired in a fit of rage. The police is however yet to recover the pistol.

It may be recalled that images of Pathan wielding a gun during the riots at Jafrabad-Maujpur had gone viral. The police said that Pathan had fired three rounds. During his interrogation, he said that he had fired in a fit of rage and on the spur of the moment.

Following his arrest, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), A K Singhla said that Pathan was planning to flee from Shamli before he was nabbed. He had procured a 7.65 mm pistol and ammunition around two years back. He was fond of pistols and the one he used during the riots was purchased from Munger in Bihar.

The police are now probing whether he was involved with any gang. The cops are also questioning him on who instigated him to be part of the riots. He runs a shop that sells socks in northeast Delhi's Ghonda area.

On February 24, the cops had identified the man in a red T-shirt, who had opened fire at the police, as Shahrukh.

In a video that went viral last week, the 33-year-old man, could be seen pointing his country-made pistol at the policeman on the Jafrabad-Maujpur road on February 24.
The man fired eight rounds in the presence of police personnel.

At least 47 people, including a police head constable Ratan Lal and Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma, have died while around 200 people sustained serious injuries in the violence that raged in northeast Delhi.