Arvind Kejriwal aide Bibhav Kumar also charged with destroying evidence in Swati Maliwal assault case

In its remand application, the Delhi Police alleged that a pen drive that was provided to them, which was supposed to contain the CCTV footage from May 13, when the alleged assault took place at Kejriwal’s residence, was empty. Police also alleged that Kumar had formatted his phone before being arrested.

Police said a junior rank officer, who had no access to the area where CCTV cameras were installed, alleged that the video footage that he found was “blank” for the relevant period. The Investigating Officer had given notice to the accused to provide the CCTV footage, it said.

The prosecution said Kumar needed to be taken to Mumbai to ascertain all the facts regarding the formatting of his cellphone and retrieving the “deleted” data.

“The fact of not finding the video footage in pen drive provided by the junior officer to the IO during the course of investigation and formatting of the mobile phone by the accused speaks volumes,” noted the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal.

In its order, the court said Maliwal’s allegations in the FIR were corroborated in her statement recorded in front of a magistrate. “Further, it is again corroborated by the MLC (medico-legal case) of the victim/ complainant,” it said.

Kumar’s lawyers argued that he was arrested without notice. The court, however, noted that there was sufficient ground to arrest him without notice. The court allowed Kumar to meet his lawyers, Mohd Irshad and Karan Sharma, and his wife for half-an-hour daily.

In her complaint, on the basis of which the Delhi Police registered a complaint against Kumar, Maliwal alleged that he slapped her seven-eight times, “kicked on the chest, stomach and pelvis area”, and threatened that she would be killed. She said the incident occurred on May 13 when she had gone to meet Kejriwal at his official residence. The report of her medical examination, conducted Thursday night, said she suffered bruises on her left thigh and right cheek, below the eye.

Meanwhile, a Delhi Police team, led by Additional DCP (North) Anjitha Chepyala, collected the digital video recorder of the CCTVs at Kejriwal’s residence on Sunday. Police had sought the DVR on Saturday but did not get permission.

Senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the police were working on the BJP’s directions. “I believe the investigation agency should be impartial. The way the Delhi Police has been planting fake news from day one, it is clear that it is working to create an election narrative for the BJP. CCTV cameras installed to check entry and exit inside the security area are under PWD, and Delhi Police took all the CCTV footage on Saturday. Today, the Delhi Police has also taken the CCTV footage from inside the Chief Minister’s residence, nothing has been deleted or tampered with,” he said.