Delhi police visit Rajkot, question five persons associated with Delhi CM's attacker

Rajkot, Aug 22 (PTI) A team of Delhi police on Friday visited Rajkot city in Gujarat and questioned five persons associated with Rajesh Sakaria, a local resident arrested for allegedly attacking Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, a police official said.

Sakaria, 41, who resides in Kotharia Road area of Rajkot, was arrested on the charges of attempted murder by the Delhi police for attacking CM Gupta on August 20 during her 'Jan Sunwai' programme in the national capital.

In their preliminary probe, the police have found that Sakaria, an auto-rickshaw driver, was a dog lover and was upset after the Supreme Court's recent order of capturing all stray dogs in Delhi and putting them in a shelter home.

"During his Delhi visit, Sakaria was in contact with five persons back home," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-2 of Rajkot), Jagdish Bangarva, said.

"A team of Delhi police visited Rajkot and conducted interrogation of these five persons, including an autorickshaw driver who had sent Rs 2,000 via GPay to Sakaria. The team has left after questioning them," he said.

The Delhi police did not arrest or detain anybody after the questioning, but they have served a notice to an autorickshaw driver who had transferred the money to Sakaria and he has been asked to appear before the them for further questioning, the DCP said.

The Rajkot police have found in their preliminary probe that Sakaria went to Delhi via Ujjain on August 19 to take part in a protest against the SC ruling on stray dogs.

His mother Bhanuben also vouched for his love for stray dogs, and said he was upset over the recent apex court order about strays in Delhi.

Prior to his arrest by the Delhi police, five FIRs were registered against Sakaria between 2017 and 2024 at Bhaktinagar police station (in Rajkot), mostly for the cases related to assault and possession of liquor.

While two FIRs were related to assault and criminal intimidation, three others were for the alleged possession and transportation of liquor, Bangarva said. PTI COR PJT PD NP