The attacker—Utsav Sharma —turned out to be the same young man who had earlier attacked former Haryana Director General of Haryana police, SPS Rathore, an accused in the Ruchika molestation case, in Chandigarh.

According to the police, Sharma was sitting at a tea stall outside the court waiting for the Talwars and attacked Rajesh Talwar with the cleaver. Talwar suffered injuries on his face and hands and had to be rushed to Delhi for specialised treatment.

Ghaziabad police chief Raghuveer Lal said Sharma had meticulously planned the attack and had bought the cleaver from a Delhi shop. He was staying at a guesthouse in Delhi for the last couple of days, Lal said. “The youth arrived in Ghaziabad by bus. He had hidden the cleaver in his bag and was waited at the tea stall,” he said.

Sharma was overpowered by security personnel present at the court and was arrested on charges of attempt to murder, the official said. Sharma, however, during questioning, told the police that he just wanted to inflict injuries on Talwar and had no intention of killing him.

Lal said Sharma looked mentally fit though he claimed that he was suffering from mental illness. “He (Sharma) is trying to misguide the police. He answered all the questions correctly,” he added.

According to the doctors, Talwar would require a surgery and take a long time to recover. The CBI court deferred the hearing of the matter to February 8. Talwar’s counsel moved an application seeking transfer of the hearing to some other court as he feared threat to his client’s life. The court will consider the application during the next hearing.