The Delhi Police on Wednesday asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to join investigation in the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash that had allegedly taken place on February 19 at a meeting at CM’s residence. Kejriwal is yet to respond to the notice, said a senior Delhi Police officer.
Police sources said there is a possibility that Kejriwal’s Deputy Manish Sisodia also may be asked to join the probe.
A senior police officer said a notice under Section 160 of the CrPC was sent to the CM on Wednesday, asking him to “attend the investigation, being acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case”. Kejriwal has been asked to be available at his residence or office on May 18 at 11am. “In the event, such timing is not convenient to you due to official exigencies, kindly intimate an alternate time,” read the notice. Reacting sharply to the notice, AAP’s Delhi unit chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “It is for the first time in India that a CM is being examined in a fake case. Modi ji is misusing the police to bother the Chief Minister but people stand by Kejriwal.”
He also alleged that the Prime Minister is “pressurizing” Chief Secretary Prakash to pursue a false case against the AAP supremo.
last month, Kejriwal’s private secretary Bibhav Kumar and party volunteer Vivek Kumar were also questioned in the case. Police have already questioned the 11 AAP MlAs who were present at the Chief Minister’s residence for the meeting on February 19 in which Prakash was allegedly attacked. Kejriwal’s former adviser VK Jain and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia were also present there.
On February 23, a police team had examined the CCTV camera installed at the Chief Minister’s Civil lines residence and seized the hard disk. The forensic report on the hard disk is still awaited. The alleged assault on the Chief Secretary had triggered a bitter tussle between the Delhi Government and its bureaucracy.