Hours after a middle-aged man with chilli powder attacked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the Delhi Secretariat on Tuesday, the Delhi Police booked the accused person, who was found to be mentally unstable.

The accused, Anil Sharma (40), a resident of Naraina, has been booked on charges of criminal intimidation, obstructing public servant, causing hurt to deter public servant and assault or criminal force on public servant under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

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On Tuesday, Sharma attempted to attack Kejriwal with chilli powder when he stepped out of his office after a meeting at the Delhi Secretariat.

When Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was coming out of his chamber, Sharma tried to hand over his complaint to him. Kejriwal passed his complaint copy to a staff member.

Sharma then bowed down to touch Kejriwal’s feet and then suddenly attempted to charge at the chief minister with the chilli powder.

A random person reached near to the chamber of Delhi Chief Minister where access is not allowed and then attacks the CM by throwing chilly powder on him.

And clearly the Delhi Police is seen nowhere to stop this threatening attack on the CM. pic.twitter.com/YWBTik0z9E

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) November 20, 2018

CCTV footage shows Sharma tried to touch Kejriwal’s feet and tried to attack on his face but the CM’s security staff caught hold of him.

The Congress condemned the attack on Tuesday saying it did not support anyone practising such “dirty politics”.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said: “It will not take even 30 seconds for me to condemn such an act. The Congress does not believe in this kind of dirty politics. Whosoever has done it, it is neither definition of our politics, nor thought. I feel everyone should condemn such an act. Such a person who does such an act needs to be condemned, who ever it may be who practices such politics.”

Earlier, the Delhi Police issued a statement recounting the incident but did not confirm whether the man threw chilli powder. The statement mentioned that the man possessed a pouch which apparently contained chilli powder.

While the AAP blamed the BJP for the alleged attack, the Delhi chief of the saffron party Manoj Tiwari said such incidents “cannot be tolerated or justified by anybody” and called for a high-level probe.