Massive outrage broke out on social media on Monday after reports that JNU student Umar Khalid, known for the ‘Bharat ke tukde tukde’ controversy, was shot at near Delhi’s Constitution Club.

But was Khalid really attacked? Was he the target?

A senior journalist’s eyewitness account totally contradicts it.

“I was going towards my car parked near Vittalbhai Patel House. Suddenly a scuffle broke out between two men near Ghanshyam’s tea stall near the Constitution Club gate. There was also a girl present there,” said Santosh Kumar of Dainik Bhaskar. One man had a pistol while the other had fallen on the pavement during the fight.

Video credit - Vikas Bhadauria

As the man tried to fire at the one on the ground, the young woman screamed and charged at him. “He then ran, stopped at a distance, fired in the air, dropped the gun and fled.”

Kumar says that hearing the gunshot, people came running out from the club. “Umar Khalid may have been one of them. He was not there when the shot was fired.”

While Khalid claimed that the attacker had come for him, DCP, New Delhi district, Madhur Verma said: “According to Khalid, the attacker fired in the air.”

Now, why would somebody who wanted to target Umar Khalid fire in the air? Moreover, the eyewitness account suggests Khalid was not even present when the shot was fired in the air.

Narrative seems to be already under construction without waiting for the foundation of facts.