The father of the Shaheen Bagh shooter, Kapil Gujjar, has once again triggered row claiming that his son was a “follower” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

This came hours after he denied police claims that his family associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday.

Gaje Singh, the father of Shaheen Bagh firing accused, had said that neither he nor any member of his family has anything to do with AAP. He claimed that he was with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) till 2012 and left politics in the same year.

Hours later, he told news agency ANI: “My son is a supporter of Modi… He was a follower of Modi and Amit Shah.” Insisting that his son had nothing to do with politics, he said Kapil Gujjar was “troubled about the roads being blocked at Shaheen Bagh… because a job would take him four hours instead of one”.

Pressing on to his claim, he asserted that his “son always speaks of Hindustan and Hindutva”.

In a major turn of events, the Delhi Police had on Tuesday evening had claimed that Kapil Gujjar — the accused in the second firing incident in the Shaheen Bagh area — is learnt to be a member of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party.

The photographs released by the police also showed him alongside AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Atishi Marlena.

The revelation has been made by the Crime Branch which is interrogating Gujjar, a resident of Dallupura village in east Delhi, who fired shots at Shaheen Bagh on February 1.

Clarifying on the photographs released, Kapil’s father had told ANI: “Neither me nor my family has anything to do with AAP. They came to campaign during the Lok Sabha election (last year) and made us all wear AAP caps and that is what the photo is.”

Kapil in his statement to the police had reportedly said that he and his father joined AAP in early 2019. According to the police, Gujjar’s father Gaje Singh contested the polls twice on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket (Jungpura in 2008 and Patparganj in 2012).

Kapil on February 1 fired three bullets in the air after warning protesters to vacate the spot. He also raised communal slogans. According to the police, the accused was annoyed over the protest at Shaheen Bagh and the ensuing road blockade for nearly 50 days now.

He chanted “Jai Shri Ram” and said, “Humare desh me aur kisi ki nahi chalegi, sirf Hindu ki chalegi (only Hindus shall have a say in our country, no one else),” as he was taken into custody by the Delhi Police.

Interestingly, the two incidents happened after Union Minister Anurag Thakur raised ‘shoot the traitor’ slogans during a public rally in Delhi.

The AAP had termed the development as BJP’s “dirty politics”.

Delhi is going to the polls on February 8 for the 70-member Assembly. Counting will take place on February 11.