On Saturday, 18th May, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal said in a post on X that the CCTV footage of the alleged assault at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence had been deleted. She further accused AAP of releasing an edited video to malign her.
In her post, Maliwal questioned if the entire CCTV footage had been deleted to protect Bibhav Kumar, PA of CM Kejriwal accused of assaulting Maliwal. “First, Bibhav beat me brutally. He slapped and kicked me. When I freed myself and called 112, he went outside, called security and started making a video. I was screaming and telling the security that Bibhav had beaten me brutally. That entire long part of the video was edited. Only 50 seconds were released when I was fed up with explaining to the security guys. Now they formatted the phone and deleted the entire video? CCTV footage is also missing! Even conspiracy has its limits!” Swati Maliwal said in her post.
Earlier on Saturday, Delhi Police arrested Kumar and produced him before a magisterial court. As he was already arrested, his anticipatory bail plea was subsequently observed as becoming “infructuous” by a Delhi Court and he was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal. Police sought 7-day remand to question him but got four-day custody. During arguments, police informed the court that custody was necessary for questioning him about the reason for the assault.
Furthermore, the court was informed that Kumar formatted his phone in Mumbai claiming there was some “malfunctioning”. The police said Kumar also did not provide them with the password to unlock the phone. The police said that they asked for the CCTV footage and were provided with a pen drive but when they checked it, the video was blank. The court said, “We asked for DVR. They gave us pendrive. Footage was blank. He gave his iPhone but did not tell us the password. Phone has been formatted.”
Additional Public Prosecutor, appearing for Delhi Police, Atul Srivastava argues on custody of Bibhav Kumar.
— ANI (@ANI) May 18, 2024
Says – We asked for the DVR, that was provided in a pen drive…Footage was found to be blank. An iPhone has been given to the Police, but now the accused is not sharing…
Aaj Tak quoted unnamed sources in its report and said that Delhi police suspected the CCTV footage was tampered with. During the remand, they may take Kumar to Mumbai where he formatted the phone. The source said generally people take a backup of the phone before formatting it and if there was nothing to hide, he might have taken a dump of the data. The police are also planning to take the help of forensic experts to recover the data. The police will also take him to the crime spot, that is the CM’s residence to find out the reason behind the assault. Kumar’s advocate claimed that the phone was formatted but it had nothing to do with the case.
What happened on 13th May
On 13th May, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal accused the Personal secretary of Arvind Kejriwal of assaulting her. In her complaint, Maliwal has alleged that Kejriwal’s personal Secretary Bibhav Kumar “slapped” her “at least seven to eight times” while she “continued screaming” and “brutally dragged” her while “kicking” her in her “chest, stomach and pelvis area.” According to the Delhi Police FIR, Maliwal described the events of May 13 when she had gone to the Civil Lines residence of Chief Minister Kejriwal.
“I went inside the camp office and called CM’s PS Bibhav Kumar but I could not go in. I then sent a message to his mobile number (through WhatsApp). However, there was no response. I then went inside the residential area through the main door as I have always done in the past year since Bibhav Kumar was not present I entered the residence area and informed the staff present there to tell the CM here to meet him,” the FIR read. “I was informed that he was present in the house and I was told to wait in the drawing room. I went into the drawing room and sat on the sofa and waited for him to meet me,” Swati Maliwal said.
“He then abused me and asked who are you to not listen to what I say. While saying these words, he came and stood right in front of me. Without any provocation whatsoever on my side, he started slapping me with full force. He slapped me seven to eight times at least while I continued screaming. I felt absolutely shocked and was screaming for help over and over again. In order to protect myself I pushed him away with my legs,” she said.
“I repeatedly told him…that he should please let go of me as I was in unbearable pain. However, he attacked me with full force again and again. I somehow managed to get free. I then sat on the sofa of the drawing room and gathered my spectacles that had fallen on the ground during the assault. I was in a terrible state of shock at this attack. I was deeply traumatised and called the 112 number and reported the crime against me,” Maliwal detailed.
