Delhi Police arrests second accused in CM Rekha Gupta attack case

The Delhi Police on Sunday (August 24) arrested another accused in connection with the recent attack on Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, officials said.

Tahseen Syed, a friend of the prime accused Sakriya Rajeshbhai Khimji (41), was brought to Delhi from Gujarat's Rajkot on Friday (August 22) night for further questioning and was made to confront Khimji to verify facts, police said.

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Second accused arrested

Khimji, an autorickshaw driver, attacked Rekha Gupta on August 20 allegedly in protest against the Supreme Court’s order on relocating stray dogs. The incident happened during the chief minister’s Jan Sunwai (public hearing) programme at her Civil Lines camp office on Wednesday.

The Delhi police took Tahseen into custody on Sunday. Khimji had allegedly sent a video of Gupta's Shalimar Bagh residence to Tahseen, while the latter had sent him Rs 2,000 and was in constant contact with him before the alleged attack on the chief minister.

Khimji has five cases of assault and possession of liquor against him between 2017 and 2024 at Rajkot's Bhaktinagar police station and multiple preventive actions were also taken against him, they said.

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Repeat offender

These police actions were taken in 2017, 2020, and twice in 2022 under various sections of the Gujarat Prohibition Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Khimji was also externed once in 2021 under section 56 of the Bombay Police Act.

According to the facts of a 2017 case, Khimji hit a person on his head with a sword and also beat him up with a bat that was used for washing clothes.

In 2022, after he had a fight with his wife, he inflicted injuries on his own head with a blade to terrorise the family members. He got nine stitches then.

Khimji was into illicit liquor smuggling as well. The Delhi Police is questioning more than 10 people, including Khimji's friends and family members in Rajkot.

A police officer said they have seized the accused's mobile phone and are following the leads that have emerged.

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Investigation ongoing

Khimji told the police that he had planned to stage a protest at the Ramleela Ground in Delhi against the Supreme Court's order on relocating stray dogs, similar to how social activist Anna Hazare had agitated over the corruption issue.

"If required, we can also take him to his native place in Rajkot as part of the investigation," a source said. Khimji's mobile phone has been sent for a forensic examination to ascertain if he deleted any crucial information before the assault.

Khimji was sent to a five-day police custody by a court. He has told the police that he went to the chief minister's "Jan Sunwai" programme 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.

(With agency inputs)