‘Attacker abandoned plan to kill CM Rekha Gupta at the last minute,’ claims Delhi Police

Giving a new twist to mystery surrounding the recent attack on Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, the Delhi Police on Monday claimed that the prime suspect, Sakriya Rajeshbhai Khimji, had initially planned to slit the throat of the CM but abandoned the plan after seeing heightened security at the public event and threw the knife he was carrying before entering the venue.

However, the Delhi Police made another arrest in connection with the attack on Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, that of Tahseen Syed, an accomplice of Sakriya Rajeshbhai Khimji (41), the prime suspect in this case. The police suspect his involvement in the case.

Advertisement

Syed was brought to Delhi after his detention in Gujarat’s Rajkot on Friday night for questioning and was made to confront Khimji to verify facts, the police said, adding that Tahseen was arrested on Sunday.

The police claimed that, while probing the case, it was found that Khimji allegedly shared a video of CM Gupta’s Shalimar Bagh residence with Syed, who then sent him Rs 2,000.

The duo was constantly in touch with each other on Wednesday, before Khimji allegedly attacked Gupta during a public interaction at her Civil Lines office.

Khimji, an autorickshaw driver, has a history of crime, with as many as five cases of assault and bootlegging (illegal possession of liquor) registered against him between 2017 and 2024 at Rajkot’s Bhaktinagar police station. Besides, multiple preventive actions were also taken against him, they said.

These actions were taken against the accused in 2017, 2020, and twice in 2022 under various sections of the Gujarat Prohibition Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Khimji was even externed in 2021 under Section 56 of the Bombay Police Act. In 2017, he allegedly hit a person on his head with a sword and also beat him up with a bat used for washing clothes.

In 2022, after a fight with his wife, he inflicted injuries on his own head with a blade to terrorize his family members. Consequently, he got nine stitches.

The Delhi Police officials are questioning more than 10 people, including Khimji’s friends and family members in Rajkot, as part of the investigation into the case. A senior officer stated that they have confiscated the accused’s mobile phone and are following up on the leads that have emerged during the investigation.

During sustained interrogation, Khimji told the investigators that he had planned to stage a protest at the Ramleela Ground here against the Supreme Court’s order on relocating stray dogs, similar to the one held by social activist Anna Hazare against corruption.

“If required, we can also take him to his native place in Rajkot as part of the investigation,” a source said.

The attacker’s phone has been sent for a forensic examination to ascertain if he deleted any crucial information before the assault.

Khimji was sent to five-day police custody by a court. He has told the police that he went to the chief minister’s “Jan Sunwai” program to raise the issue of stray dogs.

According to the Rajkot Police, Khimji went to Delhi from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh on August 19 to take part in a protest against the apex court’s ruling on stray dogs.