In its chargesheet against Bibhav Kumar, a close aide of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi Police has said there could be a larger conspiracy behind the alleged assault on Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal at the CM’s residence. The Delhi Police also said Kumar and Kejriwal were “together” at the CM’s official residence “for a significant period of time” after alleged offence was committed.
Kumar, who is in judicial custody, is accused of assaulting Maliwal on May 13 at the CM’s residence. “The complainant, in her subsequent/supplementary statement recorded after the bail hearing qua the accused before the Delhi High Court on July 10, 2024, had stated that the manner in which the entire AAP leaders and workers came in support of the accused (Kumar), against one of their own MP, shows that there is a larger conspiracy behind the attack and had urged the police to probe into it,” the final report said.
It said her statement was “relevant for the present investigation in view of the complete U-turn being publicly taken by two responsible persons of the party regarding the same incident in the days following the commission of the crime”.
The charge sheet, which runs into around 500 pages and has statements of about 50 witnesses, was filed in a city court on July 16 and its cognisance was taken on July 30. “Investigation has brought out the fact that the accused and the CM were together at the scene of crime i.E, the CM, Delhi residence, immediately after the commission of the crime for a significant period of time and, as such, the contrarian public stands taken by responsible public servants in the following days, also needs to be examined in its correct perspective to decipher if there was a larger conspiracy behind the brutal assault on the complainant/victim at the hands of the accused,” it said.
The final report said that “selective footages” of CCTV cameras were leaked to the media before the relevant recording devices could be seized and this necessitated a probe to find whether there was a “conspiracy” behind the offence.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi Police to file its response by August 21 on the plea of Kumar for grant of bail in the assault case. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Delhi Police, told a bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan that he needed three weeks’ time to file a reply. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kumar, opposed the grant of three weeks and said charge sheet has already been filed in the case. The apex court then asked Raju to file response by August 21 and posted the matter for hearing on August 27.
The top court had earlier come down heavily on Kumar saying “Is this kind of goon supposed to work in the CM’s residence?” The bench said it was shocked with the details of the incident recorded by the Delhi High Court.
Kumar has challenged the July 12 order of the Delhi High Court denying him bail in the case and claimed that the allegations against him are false. He has also said his custody is no longer required as the probe is over.
