The Hindu : New Delhi News : Life term convict says he wanted to kill actress

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Thursday, Nov 16, 2006
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Life term convict says he wanted to kill actress

Staff Reporter

Police dismiss the plan to eliminate Mallika Sherawat

NEW DELHI: A life convict who was wanted in several cases of attempt to murder, kidnapping and assault on police officers and had escaped from police custody has been arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi police.

The accused claimed before media persons that he wanted to kill Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat "for her remarks against the Jat community". But the police dismissed the claim as a desperate attempt to garner sympathy of that particular community.

A Crime Branch team had been pursuing various leads about the accused, Rajesh Dalal, for the past couple of months. Rajesh, who was convicted in a kidnapping case and had managed to escape from police custody in another case from the Tis Hazari courts' lock-up on August 8, 2005, was wanted in many cases. A cash reward of Rs. 25,000 had been declared for his arrest.

The team traced Rajesh in a small hamlet of Jaisinghpur at Sangli -- about 40 km from Kolhapur in Maharashtra -- where he was arrested this past Sunday. The police produced him at Sangli court and brought Rajesh to Delhi on transit remand.

On Wednesday, when he was produced before the media, Rajesh claimed that he had gone to Mumbai to gather information about the movements of Mallika as he wanted to kill her.

"She had virtually abused the Jat Community by giving interviews that people in Haryana were less educated and maltreated their girls. I just wanted to shoot her," he said.

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