S.A.R. Geelani, center, at a court for sentencing on Dec. 18, 2002, after he, along with three others, was found guilty in the case involving attack on the Indian Parliament on Dec. 13, 2001. (File photo: AFP)

New Delhi : S.A.R. Geelani, a Delhi University lecturer who was sentenced to death for the Dec. 13, 2001, terror attack on Indian parliament but acquitted later, was in stable condition on Feb. 9, a day after he was shot at from a close range thrice.

Geelani was fired at from close range around 8.40 p.m. on Feb. 8 when he came out of his lawyer Nandita Haksar’s home in south Delhi.

Police say they have launched a massive manhunt for the attackers, who reportedly escaped in a vehicle.

Doctors said Geelani was out of danger after being operated upon on Feb. 9 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) even as Delhi Police denied any involvement in the Feb. 8 shooting.

A doctor at AIIMS said: “He is out of danger. His condition is stable.” But the doctor added that it would be a couple of days before Geelani would be able to make a statement to police.

Meanwhile, National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan asked Delhi Police Commissioner K.K. Paul to expedite investigation even as the Supreme Court asked Delhi Police to submit a report within a week.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ranjit Narayan refuted charges by Geelani’s advocate, Haksar that police were linked to the attack that could have proved fatal.

“Haksar’s allegation is absolutely false and a wild figment of imagination,” he told reporters here.

“There was no eyewitness to the incident. This is true even if we go by Haksar’s own statement given to the police,” Narayan said. “Neither Geelani nor Haksar had expressed any apprehension about an impending attack. I shall not speculate on the case. We have constituted a large number of teams to investigate the shooting,” he said.

Another police officer called it “a well planned” attack. “They knew exactly his movements and where he would be at a given time,” he said.

Since Geelani was shot from close range, police believe the academic would be in a position to identify the attackers or at least give a fair description when his condition improves.

In the Supreme Court, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani brought the incident to the notice of Judges P. Venkatarama Reddy and P.P. Naulekar, who are hearing the Parliament attack case. Jethmalani expressed fear that Delhi Police might kill Geelani. He told the court, which was hearing a batch of appeals relating to the terrorist attack on the parliament in December 2001, that even last year he had filed an application expressing apprehensions of an attack on him but no action was taken.

Geelani was arrested along with three others shortly after five alleged Pakistani terrorists attacked Parliament house on Dec. 13, 2001, killing nine people. The attackers were also killed.

The incident almost sparked a war between India and Pakistan after New Delhi blamed Islamabad of masterminding the terror attack. Pakistan denied any involvement.

Though a lower court here awarded capital punishment to Geelani and two others, he was acquitted in October 2003 by the Delhi High Court. Delhi Police challenged Geelani’s acquittal in the Supreme Court in December 2003.

Various rights groups, students and teachers of Delhi University expressed shock and alleged that the attack was a part of a conspiracy to eliminate Geelani.

“Geelani is a victim of a witch hunt by the police for speaking out against Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Ashok Chand, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Rajveer Singh and Sub-Inspector Mohanlal Sharma for torturing him in jail,” Nirmalamshu Mukherjee, a Delhi university professor, told Indo-Asian News Service. “An atmosphere of suspicion was deliberately created around Geelani so that his friends and relatives stay away from him. False allegations of owning assets disproportionate to his income were used for this,” added N.D. Pancholi, vice president of the People’s Union For Civil Liberties (Delhi Unit).