Bibhav Kumar, aide and former personal secretary of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, was detained by Delhi Police on Saturday in connection with the alleged assault of AAP MP Swati Maliwal.
Bibhav Kumar was taken out of the back gate of the Chief Minister’s residence.
Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal has alleged that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s private secretary Bibhav Kumar slapped her, kicked her in the chest, dragged her and made threats, according to the FIR lodged by the Delhi Police on Thursday. Commenting on the matter, AAP Minister Atishi said in a press conference on Friday that Ms. Maliwal’s allegations were part of a political conspiracy hatched by the BJP.
The Delhi Police on Thursday visited Ms. Maliwal’s residence in central Delhi to record her statement. According to a senior official, the visit lasted for four hours where the former chief of the Delhi Commission for Women elaborated on the ordeal that she was subjected to on May 13 at the Chief Minister’s Civil Lines residence. The Delhi Police had received a call from a woman identifying herself as Ms. Maliwal, who informed them about the “assault” and later she visited the Civil Lines Police Station but had not filed a formal complaint. Three days later, the MP recorded her statement in the presence of two senior police officials. Subsequently, the police booked Mr. Kumar under IPC sections pertaining to assault, criminal intimidation, and outraging a woman’s modesty.
According to the FIR accessed by The Hindu, Ms. Maliwal had gone to the CM’s Civil Lines residence to meet him. She tried contacting Mr. Kumar but received no response. Subsequently, she informed the staff about her presence and sat in the drawing room.
The MP alleged that while she was waiting, Mr. Kumar burst into the drawing room and started verbally abusing her. She accused him of slapping her seven or eight times, hitting her on the chest, the stomach and the pelvic region,“unprovoked”.
“I felt shocked and was screaming for help over and over again,” the FIR read.
Ms. Maliwal alleged that in order to protect herself she pushed the accused with her legs. “At that time, he pounced on me, brutally dragged and deliberately pulled my shirt up,” the FIR said. She said that she had told Mr. Kumar that she was on her periods and already in much pain, but that he did not stop.
Her statement said that she was in a “terrible state of shock” at this attack and, traumatised, she had called the 112 number and reported the incident.
After making the call, when she came back to the drawing room, where the assault took place, the CM’s security personnel arrived and instead of assisting her, they allegedly followed Mr. Kumar’s instructions and threw her out, she stated in the FIR.
On Friday, Ms. Maliwal was taken to the Chief Minister’s residence to “re-create” the crime scene, said a senior police official.
