Man held for attacking Delhi CM is dog lover, has criminal record: Rajkot police

Rajkot (Gujarat), Aug 20 (PTI) The man accused of attacking Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Wednesday had five FIRs registered against him in Rajkot city of Gujarat, and is also a dog lover who wanted to build canine shelters, police said.

According to his neigbours, Rajesh Sakaria (41), an auto-rickshaw driver acquitted by courts in cases of assault and criminal intimidation, cared more about stray dogs than his family, Deputy Commissioner of Police Jagdish Bangarva said here.

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

Five First Information Report's were registered against Sakaria between 2017 and 2024 at Bhaktinagar police station, the official said.

While two FIRs were related to assault and criminal intimidation, three were for the alleged possession and transportation of liquor, said inspector M M Sarvaiya of Bhaktinagar police station.

DCP Bhargava said Sakaria was arrested in all these cases, but acquitted in four of them. A case related to liquor possession-transportation is still pending, he said.

"His neighbours told us that Sakaria used to feed stray dogs in his area. Many times, he had taken injured or sick dogs to hospital in his autorickshaw. We were also told that he wanted to build a shelter home for stray dogs and even met an influential industrialist recently to seek a donation," said the DCP.

"Though he is married and has a son, we learnt he was only concerned about stray dogs and gave more importance to these animals than his family," he added Earlier in the day, Sakaria's mother told reporters that her son was not affiliated to any political party.

BJP MLA from Delhi, Harish Khurana, shared a photo on Facebook where Sakaria is purportedly seen standing besides Gopal Italia, Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Visavadar in Gujarat. The BJP leader sought an explanation from AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal.

The Gujarat unit of AAP, however, claimed that Italia's photo was altered by the BJP using AI tools.

"This photo is fake and edited. It was created using Artificial Intelligence to malign AAP's image. Using a video of Gopal Italia which is still available on his Facebook page, an image was created and posted on social media by the BJP leader," alleged Gujarat AAP spokesperson Karan Barot.

CM Gupta was attacked during a 'Jan Sunwai' programme at her camp office in Delhi's Civil Lines on Wednesday morning. Sources in Delhi BJP said the man first handed the chief minister some papers, and then attacked her.

After he was detained and identified, it came to light that Sakaria lived with his wife, son and parents at Gokul Park on Kotharia Road in Gujarat's Rajkot city.

The Rajkot police questioned his mother Bhanuben Sakaria. Talking to reporters later, Bhanuben claimed her son was an animal lover who had gone to Delhi to take part in a protest against the Supreme Court order to relocate all stray dogs from streets of the national capital to shelters.

"He loves dogs, cows and birds. That is why he was upset after the SC said all the stray dogs in Delhi should be captured. He went to Haridwar a few days ago and then told us over phone that he will go to Delhi to participate in protests in support of dogs," she said.

"That's all he told us over the phone when we asked when he would return," Bhanuben said. PTI COR PJT PD GK KRK