It appears CM’s attacker came with intention to kill, says court; orders framing of charges

The two are to be charged with attempt to murder, obstruction of a public servant in discharge of their public functions, assault or using criminal force to deter public servants from their duty and criminal conspiracy, among others.

According to the 429-page chargesheet filed by Delhi Police in October, Rajesh (41) had attacked Gupta after he had a dream in which dogs told him that dogs in Delhi were suffering. The Delhi Police had claimed that the attacker was angry over the CM’s support for the Supreme Court’s August 11 order, which directed authorities in Delhi-NCR to relocate all stray dogs from the streets to shelters within eight weeks.

In her order on Saturday, Additional Sessions Judge Ekta Gauba Mann said, “William Shakespeare in his famous work titled Hamlet said ‘Frailty, thy name is Woman!’ In the present context, although the defence taken by the accused is that he is an animal lover, specially dogs, and he was upset by the order of the hon’ble Supreme Court… But (he) was well aware that there was high security for the judges of the hon’ble Supreme Court… So, he found an easy prey because the victim being a woman and despite being a Chief Minister, was not having such a high security as that of the judges of the hon’ble Supreme Court.”

“…the law of the country is that justice empowers every woman… from a woman who is cooking help to the Chief Minister and law protects them and punishes the wrongdoer with an iron hand,” the court said.
“This prima facie shows… Rajesh has come in a very calculated and well prepared manner to attack upon the victim with an intention to kill the victim and this fact is further supported by the conduct of accused Rajesh within a few seconds of talking to the victim,” the judge observed.

According to sources, Rajesh had told the court in the last hearing that he “loved animals” and “couldn’t control his aggression”, which led to the attack.

The Delhi Police was represented in the court by senior advocate Pradeep Rana.