New Delhi: Delhi Ministers on Wednesday alleged that the man who attacked Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had been conducting a recce of her official residence for nearly 24 hours, even recording videos of the premises and spending the night in the vicinity, indicating that the assault was a pre-planned one.
The attacker, identified as 41-year-old Rajesh from Rajkot, Gujarat, was arrested by the Delhi Police soon after the incident.
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.
Police sources confirmed that Rajesh is being interrogated to determine the motive behind the attack, and the Gujarat Police has also been contacted in connection with the case. An official confirmation on the incident and details of the accused are still awaited.
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.
“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.
“Police are investigating. 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.
Verma added that the Chief Minister suffered injuries to her hand, shoulder, and head. “Right now, doctors are treating her. Whether it is a political conspiracy or not will only be clear after the investigation,” he said.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa claimed that the accused had also visited Rekha Gupta’s residence in Shalimar Bagh earlier and made video recordings there.
“He knew that Rekha Gupta meets thousands of people daily without restriction during Jan Sunvai. He kept her pinned to the ground for a long time, and it is clear that he came solely with the purpose of attacking her. He did not even have any Jan Sunvai-related documents in his hand. This definitely suggests that it was all pre-planned,” 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,” Sirsa added.
For the unversed, Chief Minister Gupta holds ‘Jan Sunvai’ every Wednesday at her residence in Civil Lines.
As scheduled, CM Gupta arrived at the event at 8 A.M. The incident occurred when she was listening to the people’s grievances.
When she approached Rajesh, he started shouting at her and grabbed her hand, as per the sources.
This incident is being viewed as a significant lapse in her security.
Additionally, the Delhi Police will conduct an internal enquiry into how the incident occurred despite tight security.
(IANS)
