New Delhi. A Delhi court on Friday sent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s close aide Bibhav Kumar to four-day judicial custody in the case of alleged assault on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal. Kejriwal’s personal assistant Kumar had allegedly assaulted Maliwal at the Chief Minister’s official residence on May 13. He has been in police custody since Saturday. At the same time, the Tis Hazari Court has issued a notice on Bibhav Kumar’s bail plea and asked him to file a reply.
Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal argued in Kumar’s court that if needed, the police can take him into custody again, but till then he should be sent to judicial custody for 4 days. After this, the court sent Bibhav Kumar to judicial custody till May 28. Delhi Police said that as per the court’s instructions, we had allowed family members and lawyer to meet Bibhav. Bibhav’s lawyer said that both judicial custody and police custody affect the freedom of the accused. The demand for anything should be reasonable. Bibhav’s lawyer filed an application demanding the preservation of CCTV footage and DVR.
He said that they had conducted raids thrice and took away the DVR, now they can say later that it is empty, so the CCTV and DVR should be preserved and presented in the court immediately. Delhi Police opposed Vibhav’s petition and demanded that the petition be dismissed. Delhi Police said that the trial is not set yet. In such a situation, such a demand cannot be made.
The police informed in its application that during the investigation, apart from the statements of witnesses, electronic, scientific and medical material has been collected, the NVR has been recovered which contains important material related to the present case. It has been seized and sent for examination and analysis by forensic experts, which is awaited and the report is expected in the shortest possible time. It has been brought to the notice of the court that the accused has always been non-cooperative during the investigation and has been evasive in answering the questions.
He has deliberately not disclosed the mobile phone password, which is again crucial information in the investigation, so that the truth can be unearthed which is the ultimate target of every investigation. After receiving the report from the experts, the accused can be confronted face to face to take the investigation forward. Currently, the investigation team is in Mumbai and is likely to return to Delhi soon with some people.
Tags: Delhi news, Swati Maliwal
FIRST PUBLISHED : May 24, 2024, 18:23 IST