Delhi Police forms SIT to probe Swati Maliwal assault case
May 21, 2024
New Delhi [India], May 21 : A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to investigate the Swati Maliwal case, a week after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's former personal secretary Bibhav Kumar of assaulting her, police officials said.
The SIT is headed by North Delhi's Additional Deputy Commissioner Of Police (DCP) Anjitha Chepyala who has been handling the investigation. Three Inspector-rank officers are also included in the SIT, which includes the officer of Civil Lines Police Station where the case was registered.
The SIT will be submitting its report to senior officials after conducting its investigation, police said.
The Delhi Police took Bibhav Kumar to the drawing room of Kejriwal's residence on Monday where Kumar had allegedly assaulted Maliwal, to find out details about the sequence of events that took place on the morning of May 13.
The police noted down the answers to all their questions sequence-wise, mapped them and took photographs of the crime scene where the hour-long crime took place, officials said.
Sources from the Delhi Police said that since the crime scene has now been recreated by taking both the accused and the victim to the spot, the sequence of events narrated by both of them is now being analyzed.
Officials from Delhi Police said that they also paid a visit to Bibhav Kumar's residence.
The police are on their way to retrieve Bibhav Kumar's mobile data expecting that it would give them a fresh lead, they said. They are also trying to find out whether the CCTV footage has been tampered with, as accused by Swati Maliwal.
The police seized the DVR of Kejriwal's CCTV footage on Sunday evening and are trying to retrieve the blank portion of the footage.
Earlier, on Saturday, Kejriwal's former PA was arrested in connection with the alleged assault on Maliwal. He was produced before the Tis Hazari Court, which remanded him to police custody for five days.
Maliwal, in her complaint, alleged that Bibhav "slapped" her "at least seven to eight times" while she "continued screaming" and "brutally dragged" her while "kicking" her in her "chest, stomach and pelvis area." After his arrest, Bibhav was produced before Delhi's Tis Hazari Court, which remanded her in police custody for five days.
Bibhav lodged a counter-complaint with the police on Friday, accusing Maliwal of gaining 'unauthorised entry' into the CM's Civil Lines residence and 'verbally abusing' him.
