Delhi chief secretary 'assault': Arvind Kejriwal govt might livestream all meetings with bureaucrats, upload files

A week after Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash alleged that he was assaulted by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs Prakash Jarwal and Amanatullah Khan, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government is considering a proposition to broadcast or livestream all meetings that take place with bureaucrats, News18 reported. The report also quoted a government source as saying that in a bid to increase transparency and steer AAP clear of any future controversy, the state might upload government documents online so that people know who has signed what, who is yet to sign, and who has raised objection to a certain document. In a letter to the Delhi Police , Anshu alleged that he was abused by MLAs at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on the night of 19 February. “My spectacles fell on the ground. I was in a state of shock. With difficulty I was able to leave the room and get into my official car and leave chief minister’s residence,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_4336285” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. PTI[/caption] However, Kejriwal’s office dismissed Prakash’s accusation as “bizarre and baseless”. The AAP denied the charges of assault and said the chief secretary was making allegations at the behest of the BJP. The blame game continued as the IAS association secretary Manisha Saxena on Tuesday said that Anshu was “manhandled” and “mistreated” at Kejriwal’s residence on Monday and termed it a “planned criminal conspiracy”. On 22 February, Khan and Jarwal were sent to Tihar Jail for 14 days in judicial custody by a Delhi court. While Jarwal, an MLA from Deoli, was arrested on Tuesday night, Khan was taken into custody on Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile, Kejriwal’s advisor VK Jain told police he saw Khan and Jarwal “physically assaulting”  the chief secretary. The AAP alleged Jain initially told police he did not witness any assault and the police threatened Jain to change his statement. On Friday, Delhi Police arrived at Kejriwal’s residence to  retrieve CCTV footage of the alleged assault. The police conducted a raid at the chief minister’s house after it failed to recover the CCTV footage from Public Works Department officials. The police retrieved hard disks and said that there were no cameras installed in the room where the alleged assault took place. A senior police officer said they would go about the investigation based on the coverage by cameras installed in the corridor and added that seven of the 21 CCTV cameras in the house were not functioning. The officer said that the CCTV footage was sought by them on 20 February, but since there was no response, they had to conduct the search. With inputs from agencies