New Delhi: Hours after Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta was allegedly slapped by a man from Gujarat's Rajkot, a CCTV footage of the attacker allegedly conducting a recce of the CM's residence in Shalimar Bagh on August 19 surfaced online. The footage was released by the Delhi Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
In the CCTV footage, the attacker, Rajesh Bhai Khimji, could be seen on the streets of Delhi. At the start of the clip, Khimji could be seen paying money to a rickshaw puller and then having a word with him.
Later, the attacker was seen talking on the phone while roaming on the phone near the CM's Shalimar Bagh residence. He also made a video of the area.
Video Of Accused Conducting Recce:
Notably, after the attack, Delhi Ministers claimed that it was pre-planned. They alleged that Khimji had been conducting a recce of her official residence for nearly 24 hours, even recording videos of the premises and spending the night near her official residence.
The assault took place on Wednesday morning during the Jan Sunvai programme at the Chief Minister's official residence in Civil Lines, where she regularly meets people from Delhi to listen to their grievances.
According to PWD Minister Parvesh Verma and Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the attacker pulled the Chief Minister by her hair and pinned her to the ground before she was rescued by security personnel and people present at the spot, reported IANS.
"After a long time, Delhi got a Chief Minister who holds Jan Sunvai programmes regularly at her residence, personally listening to the grievances of 1,000-2,000 people daily without restrictions. What happened today is highly condemnable. We just met the CM; she has sustained injuries, and her MLC examination is underway," Verma told reporters.
"It has also come to light that the attacker had been conducting a recce of the CM's residence for the past 24 hours and even spent the night somewhere nearby. He came to the Jan Sunvai today without any relevant documents, and as soon as he met the Chief Minister, he attacked her. He pulled her hair for a while, and people around tried to pull him away from her," he further said.
Sirsa told reporters. "No one should think they can attack a woman Chief Minister and get away with it. The Jan Sunvai events will continue as before. Our CM will continue to work for the development of Delhi."
"She meets many people and often doesn't involve much security, and this is what he knew when he carried out this attack," he added.
According to IANS, the attacker shouted at Gupta, slapped her, and began abusing her. Sakariya reportedly handed some papers to the chief minister and referred to a court case before reportedly slapping her. He also pulled her hair and slapped her, reported the news, quoting an eyewitness as saying. The 41-year-old man was immediately nabbed by the Delhi CM's security personnel.
Khimji is reportedly a dog lover. The attacker's mother told the police that he was upset over the Supreme Court's recent verdict on stray dogs to relocate them to shelters in Delhi-NCR, reported NDTV, citing sources. She also said that his son was mentally unstable.
"He had gone to Rajkot on Sunday. He has two sons in the family and drives a rickshaw. His mental health is unstable and he sometimes attacks anyone in the family," the attacker's mother, Bhanu, told reporters.
However, some other reports claimed that Sakariya's relative was lodged in Tihar Jail, and he wanted him to be out of the prison. The police are investigating the exact reason for the attack.
