Swati Maliwal Assault case: Bibhav Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal’s aide, arrested by Delhi Police
New Delhi: Bibhav Kumar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s aide, was on Saturday arrested by the police for allegedly assaulting Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Swati Maliwal. Maliwal had alleged in her FIR that Kumar, Kejriwal’s chief secretary, assaulted her on May 13 when she visited the chief minister’s residence.
Kumar was taken into custody from the chief minister’s residence in Civil Lines by a team of the Delhi Police around noon. He has been taken to the Civil Lines police station for questioning.
Maliwal has accused Kumar of assaulting her at Kejriwal’s residence on May 13 when she had gone to meet the chief minister and that the attack was unprovoked.
AAP, on the other hand, has denied the charges, claiming that Maliwal is acting at the BJP’s behest after she was blackmailed as she is facing arrest in an “illegal recruitment case”.
His lawyer said they are examining the situation and have not received any information about the arrest yet. “We’ve not received any information from the police yet. We’ve sent them an e-mail that we will cooperate in the investigation,” Advocate Karan Sharma told media persons.
#WATCH | Delhi: Advocate Karan Sharma representing Bibhav Kumar says, “We’ve not received any information from the police yet. We’ve sent them an e-mail that we will cooperate in the investigation.”
Delhi Police arrested Bibhav Kumar, former PS of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, in… pic.twitter.com/1Rv24FFyaV
— ANI (@ANI) May 18, 2024
The case has triggered yet another political storm in the national capital with the BJP lashing out at Kejriwal over his silence on the matter with the saffron party JP Nadda saying that Kejriwal has been left completely exposed now and that the AAP is a party built on a “foundation of lies”.
Bibhav Kumar’s complaint against Swati Maliwal
Just a few hours before his arrest, Kumar shot a mail to the Delhi Police complaining against Maliwal over the events of May 13. He claimed that Maliwal trespassed into the chief minister’s residence and did not heed objections by the security personnel and that she threatened to implicate him in a false case after he objected to her actions. He also added that Maliwal told him that she would file a false case against him and that Kumar would spend the rest of his life in jail.
Around the same time, the Aam Aadmi Party released a CCTV footage from the chief minister’s residence on May 13 showing Maliwal being escorted out by the security personnel while she engaged in an animated discussion with them. The party claimed the video showed that Maliwal is lying and did not exhibit any signs of assault as she has alleged in her FIR.