National Desk
19 May
Sandeep Dhand Ludhiana
On Sunday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the Delhi Police of conducting a biased investigation aimed at tarnishing its image ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This follows the seizure of the digital video recorder (DVR) from CCTV cameras installed at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence, as part of a probe into allegations of assault made by AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal.
Maliwal has alleged that Kejriwal’s aide, Bibhav Kumar, assaulted her on May 13 during a visit to the chief minister’s residence. AAP has dismissed these allegations, asserting that Maliwal is being manipulated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to frame Kejriwal. Kumar was arrested on Saturday and has been remanded in five-day police custody.
Addressing the media, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj disclosed that the police had seized the DVR of CCTV cameras from various parts of the residence. Bharadwaj accused the police of fabricating stories about deleted CCTV footage to discredit AAP. He emphasized that the CCTV cameras and footage are maintained by the Public Works Department, challenging the notion that any footage could have been tampered with.
Bharadwaj also raised concerns about the rapid dissemination of the First Information Report (FIR) details, noting that the FIR, filed under Section 354(B) concerning molestation, was widely circulated in the media while the accused and AAP had not received a copy.
He questioned the logic of the footage deletion allegations, stating, “The incident happened in the drawing room where it is uncommon to install CCTV cameras. When a camera is not there, how can its footage be deleted?”
Bharadwaj alleged that the police are acting under BJP’s influence to smear AAP’s reputation before the May 25 elections. There was no immediate response from the Delhi Police regarding these accusations.