Dalal uploaded a video of himself and his alleged accomplice, Darwesh Shahpur, on Facebook, taking responsibility for the attack on Umar Khalid. Dalal uploaded a video of himself and his alleged accomplice, Darwesh Shahpur, on Facebook, taking responsibility for the attack on Umar Khalid.

In Mandothi village in Haryana’s Jhajjar district, the name ‘Naveen Dalal’ doesn’t really ring a bell. Till you add the prefix ‘gau rakshak’ — and then many are able to place the man in question. Hours after Dalal uploaded a video of himself and his alleged accomplice, Darwesh Shahpur, on Facebook, taking responsibility for the attack on Umar Khalid outside Constitution Club this week, his grandmother, Gyaano Devi, said she has no idea where her grandson is.

“He left home five-six days ago without telling me where he went. I did ask him but he only said he is going out for work and will be back in the evening. He did not return though,” says Devi, Dalal’s only surviving relative. His mother, she says, died of an illness a few years ago, while his “mentally unstable” father does not live with the family. Dalal is her only grandchild.

READ | Men who claimed attack on Umar Khalid fail to surrender

“I have not spoken to him since he left, but I am hardly worried. His duties as a gau rakshak have taken him away from home for several days on earlier occasions as well. This is not a new thing,” she says. The grandson of a ‘lambardar’ (zamindar), Dalal was born in August 1992 in Mandothi village. He studied at a private school before completing his BA from the All India Jat Heroes’ Memorial College in Rohtak.

READ | Attack on Umar Khalid an I-Day gift to India, say 2 men on video, claiming credit

It was after completing his education that Dalal founded the Gau Raksha Sena, his grandmother says. The Facebook page of the outfit was created in 2015. “He has been involved in social activities like gau raksha for several years,” says his grandmother. Asked about the video he had uploaded on Facebook, and the crime he claims to have committed, she says she is not aware of it.

Others in the area said they were not aware of his link to the attack on Khalid. “I do not know about this video or the JNU business, but I can vouch for Naveen. He is a decent boy who is known to be peaceful. He is highly respected because of the work he does as a gau rakshak,” says the local barber who lives near Dalal’s home.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Delhi News, download Indian Express App.