CHANDIGARH: Former Haryana DGP
SPS Rathore, convicted in the Ruchika molestation case, was today attacked by a
student of the prestigious NID posing as a journalist. The youth, Utsav Sharma,
is said to be suffering from a pyschological disorder. Utsav stabbed Rathore
thrice in the face with a pocket knife outside a local court.
The condition of 68-year-old Rathore, who had gone to the court in connection
with hearing of his appeal against the six-month sentence imposed on him, was
stated to be stable.
The shaken former top cop came back to the court with a walking stick for
post-lunch proceedings with a bandage on his right cheek amid tight security.
Utsav, 29, a resident of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and pursuing a post-graduate
diploma course in animation and film design at the National Institute of Design
(NID) in Ahmedabad, has been arrested.
As Rathore stepped out of the district court complex after the morning
proceedings and was barely 15 feet away from his waiting car, the assailant who
was standing among mediapersons waiting for an interaction lunged forward,
caught him by the neck and in a split second stabbed him thrice on his right
cheek with a sharp-edged pocket knife.
Rathore was also punched on his face by the youth who posed as a freelance
journalist. The assailant had a still camera with him and pretended to take
pictures of the approaching former cop,
A bleeding Rathore covered the wound on his face with a handkerchief while an
escorting policeman pinned the youth down to the ground just near the ex-cop's
car when he tried to run in the midst of a commotion. The assailant also
attempted to attack Rathore on the arm.
"He appears to be pyschologically imbalanced. We are trying to ascertain the
motive behind his action," Chandigarh's SSP S S Srivastava said.