Fresh details have emerged in the attack case on Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, with sources revealing that the attacker had picked up a knife from a vegetable cart outside the New Delhi Railway Station, with which he wanted to stab her. Ms Gupta was attacked by Rajesh Sakriya during a public hearing last week in the Civil Lines area of the city. He was subsequently arrested.
According to sources, Rajesh, a dog lover, attacked the Chief Minister after she allegedly ignored his appeals against removing stray dogs from Delhi.
He had hatched a plan to attack Ms Gupta with his friend, Tahseen Syed - who has also been arrested. The two were in constant contact with each other, during which Rajesh allegedly sent a video of Ms Gupta's Shalimar Bagh residence.
Initially, the two had planned to attack the Supreme Court after it ordered that all stray dogs in Delhi-NCR and adjoining regions must be shifted away from residential localities to shelters in view of the rising cases of dog bites leading to rabies deaths, sources said. When Rajesh reached the top court, he dropped the plan given the tight security.
The accused then went to Ms Gupta's residence in Shalimar Bagh as he thought she was an "easier target", sources said.
Shortly after, he decided to attack Ms Gupta with a knife and visited her Civil Lines office. However, he threw the knife after seeing the security during the 'Jan Sunwai' program and allegedly slapped her. The accused also pushed and pulled the Chief Minister's hair.
Sources said that the police interrogated the two accused face-to-face, during which Syed said he would "not spare anyone who comes in his way".
The cops are also still searching for the knife, officials said.
