<p>The armed attack early on Wednesday is not the first on Shahdara MLA Jitender Singh Shunty. The 53-year-old claimed he has been the victim of at least two more life-threatening attacks and several threats over his mobile phone.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Due to the threats, Shunty was given two personal security officers from Punjab Police, but they come to his house in east Delhi’s Vivek Vihar only around 8 am. Delhi Police will now provide more security.<br /><br />Shunty said the first attack on him took place a month before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi election results were announced in April 2007. He won as an independent candidate from Jhilmil seat.<br /><br />“I was in a meeting near my house when somebody opened fire in March 2007. Luckily, I was not shot,” Shunty said. In 2008, a truck driver allegedly tried to kill him in a staged road accident.<br /><br />“I had filed FIRs in both the cases. At that point, I believed that they were attacks over political rivalry,” Shunty added. Shunty got threats over the phone just before the last Assembly elections.<br /><br />“During the probe, it was revealed that a mentally unstable man was contacting my father. We did not pursue the case after police assurance that the man would be of no harm,” Manish, the BJP MLA's son, said.<br /><br />About the attack on Wednesday, Shunty told Deccan Herald he had seen the man from his drawing room window. When he opened the door, the man requested him in a Haryanavi accent to attest some document. <br /><br />“I feel lucky to be alive. In the adrenaline rush, I thought I was shot. But all the shots just missed by a whisker. The second shot went right past my ear and I could hear a humming sound,” he said. The third round was fired when Shunty was desperately ringing his door bell.<br /><br />Hearing the commotion, Shunty’s neighbour Satish Chaudhary made a call to the police control room. The MLA told police he had no clue about the attacker.<br /><br />Eyewitnesses told police that the attacker threw his helmet at a park near Shunty’s house and fled in a white Verna parked near a dairy shop. Dairy shop owner Choudhary Mahavir Singh said he was outside the shop when he saw the man running away from the park.<br /><br />“He fled in the Verna car,” he said. Mahavir confirmed that the attacker was alone in the car. “I opened my shop around 4.45 am, but never saw another man near the car,” he added.<br /><br />Police have analysed CCTV footage and call data records of the MLA's mobile phone.“We have gathered details of people who were in contact with Shunty in the past 10 days. If not an attack over personal enmity, it would prove to be an attack in a fit of rage,” said Sanjay Beniwal, Joint Commissioner of Police (Eastern Range).</p>
<p>The armed attack early on Wednesday is not the first on Shahdara MLA Jitender Singh Shunty. The 53-year-old claimed he has been the victim of at least two more life-threatening attacks and several threats over his mobile phone.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Due to the threats, Shunty was given two personal security officers from Punjab Police, but they come to his house in east Delhi’s Vivek Vihar only around 8 am. Delhi Police will now provide more security.<br /><br />Shunty said the first attack on him took place a month before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi election results were announced in April 2007. He won as an independent candidate from Jhilmil seat.<br /><br />“I was in a meeting near my house when somebody opened fire in March 2007. Luckily, I was not shot,” Shunty said. In 2008, a truck driver allegedly tried to kill him in a staged road accident.<br /><br />“I had filed FIRs in both the cases. At that point, I believed that they were attacks over political rivalry,” Shunty added. Shunty got threats over the phone just before the last Assembly elections.<br /><br />“During the probe, it was revealed that a mentally unstable man was contacting my father. We did not pursue the case after police assurance that the man would be of no harm,” Manish, the BJP MLA's son, said.<br /><br />About the attack on Wednesday, Shunty told Deccan Herald he had seen the man from his drawing room window. When he opened the door, the man requested him in a Haryanavi accent to attest some document. <br /><br />“I feel lucky to be alive. In the adrenaline rush, I thought I was shot. But all the shots just missed by a whisker. The second shot went right past my ear and I could hear a humming sound,” he said. The third round was fired when Shunty was desperately ringing his door bell.<br /><br />Hearing the commotion, Shunty’s neighbour Satish Chaudhary made a call to the police control room. The MLA told police he had no clue about the attacker.<br /><br />Eyewitnesses told police that the attacker threw his helmet at a park near Shunty’s house and fled in a white Verna parked near a dairy shop. Dairy shop owner Choudhary Mahavir Singh said he was outside the shop when he saw the man running away from the park.<br /><br />“He fled in the Verna car,” he said. Mahavir confirmed that the attacker was alone in the car. “I opened my shop around 4.45 am, but never saw another man near the car,” he added.<br /><br />Police have analysed CCTV footage and call data records of the MLA's mobile phone.“We have gathered details of people who were in contact with Shunty in the past 10 days. If not an attack over personal enmity, it would prove to be an attack in a fit of rage,” said Sanjay Beniwal, Joint Commissioner of Police (Eastern Range).</p>
