Assault on Anshu Prakash: Delhi Police sends notice to Arvind Kejriwal on attack on chief secretary by two AAP MLAs

New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Thursday sent a notice to Arvind Kejriwal to join the probe in the Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash assault case, drawing a sharp reaction from the AAP which alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “misusing” the police to “bother” the chief minister. A senior police officer said that the notice was sent to Kejriwal to join the investigations on 18 May at 11 a.m. The notice said, “You (Kejriwal) are required to attend investigation and be available at your residence/office on 18 May at 11 a.m. In the event such timing is not convenient to you due to official exigencies, kindly intimate an alternate time.” Kejriwal, however, has not responded to the notice, the official said. [caption id=“attachment_4473099” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Delhi chief minister. PTI[/caption] The Opposition BJP said that it hoped Kejriwal would cooperate in the police investigation instead of doing politics over the matter. There is also a possibility that the police may ask Kejriwal’s deputy Manish Sisodia to join the investigation. Reacting sharply to the Delhi police notice, AAP’s Delhi unit chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “It is for the first time in India that a chief minister is being examined in a fake case. Modi ji is misusing the police to bother the chief minister but people stand by Kejriwal.” He also alleged that the prime minister is “pressurising” chief secretary Prakash to pursue a false case against the AAP supremo. Last month, Kejriwal’s private secretary Bibhav Kumar and a party volunteer Vivek Kumar were also questioned in connection with the case. Prakash was allegedly assaulted during a meeting at Kejriwal’s official residence on 19 February. Police have already questioned the 11 AAP MLAs, who were present at the chief minister’s residence for the meeting. Two MLAs Amantullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal were arrested in the case. Kejriwal, his former advisor VK Jain and Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia were also present there. On 23 February, a police team had examined the CCTV system installed at the chief minister’s residence in the Civil Lines area and seized the hard disk. The forensic report on the hard disk is still awaited. The “conspiracy” of assault on Prakash was “hatched” at Kejriwal’s residence so it was no surprise that he would be questioned by the police, alleged Vijender Gupta, BJP legislator and Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly. “The chief minister should cooperate in investigation instead of indulging in politics over it,” Gupta said. The alleged assault on the chief secretary had triggered a bitter tussle between the Delhi government and its bureaucracy.