Delhi BJP MLA escapes assassination attempt

An unidentified gunman opened fire at Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from Shahdara, Jeetendra Singh Shunty, outside his house in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar area early Wednesday morning, police said.

Shunty escaped unhurt as the bullets narrowly missed him.

The whole incident was caught on CCTV. The incident took place around 5:30 AM when the man reached Shunty's residence and repeatedly rang the bell.

"As Shunty went out to check, the man who was wearing a helmet, told him that he wanted to get some documents attested," said a police official.

As the BJP MLA took the documents from him and was about to go inside the house to attest them, the attacker whipped out a pistol.

Seeing the weapon, Shunty tried to prevent him from opening fire and had a scuffle with him but the gunman managed to fire three to four shots at him, which missed Shunty by a whisker, the official said.

The attacker then fled from the scene and police was informed about the incident.

The BJP MLA told police that he could not identify the assailant as he was wearing a helmet.

Delhi Police's FSL and Crime Team have reached the spot and begun investigation into the case.

Empty cartridges were recovered from the lane outside Shunty's residence where the incident took place.

Senior officials including DCP Ajay Kumar and Joint Commissioner Sanjay Beniwal have also reached the crime scene.

Investigators are also examining the CCTV footage for more leads in the case.