Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday questioned who “paid” the Jamia shooter a day after a 17-year-old youth opened fire at a group of anti-CAA protesters near the Jamia Millia Islamia University.

Asked by reporters to comment on the incident as he was entering Parliament, Gandhi said, “Who paid the Jamia shooter?”

Earlier on Thursday, Rahul Gandhi had tweeted a quote from Mahatma Gandhi: “I cannot teach you violence, as I do not believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before anyone, even at the cost of your life.”

“I cannot teach you violence, as I do not believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before anyone, even at the cost of your life.”

-Mahatma Gandhi pic.twitter.com/wHIdlgtAji

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 30, 2020

Tensions in the Jamia area spiralled on Thursday after a man fired a pistol at a group of anti-CAA protesters, injuring a student, before walking away while waving the firearm above his head and shouting “Yeh lo aazadi” amid heavy police presence.

The youth was taken into custody soon after and interrogated.

The attacker, identified as Rambhakt Gopal Sharma, is learnt to be a resident of Jewar area of Gautam Buddha Nagar District (Uttar Pradesh).

The Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC) had organised a protest march against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), from Jamia to Raj Ghat.

Following the firing incident, massive protests erupted as over 1000 students gathered outside the varsity expressing their solidarity with the injured person and removed the barricades put up by the police.

Jamia Millia Islamia has been pivotal in the anti-CAA protest as it came in news after police action against the protesters in December last.

The passing of the controversial Citizenship Bill has triggered countrywide protests and since it becoming law, citizens especially students have taken to the streets in protest against the legislation.

The amended law seeks to provide citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have faced religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and have arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014.