Delhi CM attack: Accused is auto driver in Rajkot, Gujarat

He entered the Civil Lines bungalow, where the event was being held, with a piece of paper and a mobile phone, handed over the paper to the CM, hurled abuses and attacked her, police said

Forty-one-year-old Rajeshbhai Khimjibhai Sakriya, who allegedly attacked chief minister Rekha Gupta during a public grievance redressal programme on Wednesday, works as an autorickshaw driver in Rajkot, Gujarat, and lives with his wife and two sons, police said.

The accused in police custody. (ANI)

He entered the Civil Lines bungalow, where the event was being held, with a piece of paper and a mobile phone, handed over the paper to the CM, hurled abuses and attacked her, police said.

Senior police officers said he held CM’s hands and jostled her. She suffered injuries to her hands and head.

Delhi Police said Khimjibhai is a repeat offender with a criminal record of five cases, under IPC Section 326 (causing grievous hurt by a dangerous weapon/poisonous substance), Section 504 (Intentional insult causing quarrel or breach of peace), Section 114 (being present at the time of offence and assisting), and law related to liquor ban in Gujarat. He has been acquitted in four of the five cases. The cases were registered in Gujarat between 2017 and 2023.

Police said he had four other police complaints against him linked to assault and liquor smuggling.

A Delhi Police officer said, “He is usually involved in bootlegging and assaults on known and unknown persons after getting drunk. We are checking his history and have asked Gujarat Police.”

Police said he has been “misleading” them on the motive of his attack.

A second Delhi Police officer, who interrogated him, said, “He first said his relative was in Tihar jail and he wanted justice for him, but that turned out to be bogus. His family knew he was in Delhi to support animal activists. His family also said he attacked the CM over the recent Supreme Court judgment on stray dogs. They claim he is an animal lover but he has not said anything about it.”

“We think this was a planned attack. He was sharing his details with someone else. We also found that for the past 24 hours, he was looking for ways to meet the CM. After Shalimar Bagh, he spent the night in Civil Lines area,” the officer said.

Police said he reached Delhi on Monday, and on Tuesday night, the accused was staying near Gujarat Bhawan in Civil Lines. A purported video of CM’s private residence in Shalimar Bagh shows the accused sitting along with other public persons. He later pulls out his phone and records video/photo of his surroundings.

They are checking records to locate his accomplices and evidence of his participation in protests over the stray dog issue