The Delhi Police on Friday reached the residence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to retrieve the CCTV footage of the alleged assault on Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash by Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) MLAs on Monday, according to reports.
Alleged assault of Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash case:Police arrives at CM Arvind Kejriwal's residence to review CCTV visuals pic.twitter.com/VrroGWjLwK
— ANI (@ANI) February 23, 2018
The Indian Express reported that the police conducted a raid at the chief minister's residence after it failed to recover the CCTV footage of Kejriwal's residence from PWD officials. Sources, quoted in the report, said that the decision to conduct a raid was taken after several rounds of meetings were held between Additional DCP (North District) Harendra Singh and Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik wherein Singh informed him about the importance of the CCTV footage to their investigation.
Harendra Singh told IANS that "the raid has just begun" and police would be looking for CCTV footages besides questioning staff regarding the alleged assault.
Reacting to it, Kejriwal said, "A huge posse of policemen was sent to my residence. The entire chief minister residence is being searched over allegations of two slaps."
"But when will Amit Shah be questioned in connection with Judge Loya's death," he asked in a tweet.
ख़ूब पूलीस मेरे घर भेजी है। मेरे घर की छानबीन चल रही है। बहुत अच्छी बात है।
पर जज लोया के क़त्ल के मामले में अमित शाह से पूछताछ कब होगी?
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 23, 2018
AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj told News18 that the party has no problem with the police visiting the chief minister's residence and they welcome all kinds of investigation.
#BREAKING -- Delhi police reach Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's residence. AAP's @Saurabh_MLAgk says "we have no problem in police visiting CM's house. We welcome all kinds of investigation" pic.twitter.com/DYkgvg3h9Z — News18 (@CNNnews18) February 23, 2018
However, Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia's advisor, according to News18, said that the police entered the chief minister's house without intimation.
#BREAKING -- Manish Sisodia's Advisor tweets: "CM house taken over by police. Police enter CM's house without intimation. Police raj kills democracy" | @saahilmenghani with more details #AAPvsBabus #ThappadMystery pic.twitter.com/q3KsPHluwX
— News18 (@CNNnews18) February 23, 2018
AAP also tweeted:
CM हाउस पर CCTV फुटेज लेने के बहाने दल-बल के साथ पहुंची दिल्ली पुलिस पूछ रही है कि 'इस कमरे की पेंटिंग कब हुई थी,प्लास्टर कब हुआ था? टोयलेट कहाँ है?
क्या पुलिस की इतनी हिम्मत है कि जस्टिस लोया केस में अमित शाह के घर इसी तरह घुस कर पूँछतांछ कर सके? pic.twitter.com/FEXxBMK2Yz— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) February 23, 2018
On Tuesday, the chief secretary had alleged that he was beaten up by the two AAP MLAs in the presence of Kejriwal at the chief minister's residence, where he had been called for an emergency meeting.
File image of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Reuters
The AAP had denied the charges of assault and said that the chief secretary was making allegations at the behest of the BJP. The ruling party, reported NDTV, referred to the CCTV to allege that Prakash was lying about the assault.
AAP MLA Ashutosh said the medico-legal case report of Prakash states he was assaulted after 12 am but the CCTV camera footage shows he left Kejriwal's residence at 11:30 pm.
This development comes after Kejriwal's advisor VK Jain on Thursday told police that he saw AAP MLAs Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal "physically assaulting" Prakash, according to Jain's statement recorded by the Delhi Police.
The AAP defended by stating that Jain had initially told police that he did not witness any assault and police has threatened Jain to change his statement.
With inputs from agencies
Updated Date: Feb 23, 2018 13:35 PM
