National

Swati Maliwal 'Assault' Case: Delhi Court Sends Bibhav Kumar To 5-Day Police Custody

Delhi Police sought his seven-day custody to question him in connection with the assault case.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
PTI
Bibhav Kumar being taken to Tis Hazari Court in Delhi Photo: PTI
info_icon

A Delhi court on Saturday sent Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar to police custody for five days in a case involving alleged assault on AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal.

The Delhi Police arrested Kumar earlier in the day and his anticipatory bail plea was subsequently observed as becoming "infructuous" by a Delhi court.

Kumar was later produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal.

Delhi Police sought his seven-day custody to question him in connection with the assault case.

It is alleged that Kumar, the personal assistant of Kejriwal, assaulted Maliwal at the CM's house on May 13.

Police told the court that Kumar's custody was necessary for questioning him about reason of assault.

They said Kumar did not provide the password of his mobile-phone to the investigating agency and had also informed that his phone had been formatted in Mumbai due to some malfunctioning in the device.

Police said before being formatted the data of a mobile phone has to be cloned and Kumar was required to be taken to Mumbai for retrieving the data. The accused's presence was also needed to get his mobile-phone opened by an expert, they said.

Countering the arguments, Kumar's counsel Rajiv Mohan said neither was there any record of Maliwal's visit to the CM's residence before May 13 nor did she clarify the reason for registering the FIR only on May 16.

The FIR was registered at the Civil Lines police station.

He said that Maliwal visited the CM's residence without an appointment and that the Delhi Police was distorting facts.

The advocate said neither did Maliwal seek any medical aid after calling the emergency helpline number 112 nor did the station house officer prepare any medical sheet after meeting her.

Mohan alleged that Maliwal was politicising the issue of having suffered injuries and was also giving statements to the media.

He said that Kumar's mobile-phone was not required for investigation as Maliwal had nowhere alleged about threatening on phone or WhatsApp calls.

(With PTI inputs)