Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has finally made a statement on the Swati Maliwal assault case. The Delhi CM released a video statement after his PA Bibhav Kumar was detained by Delhi police today, a day after AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal registered a formal complaint against her. Maliwal has alleged Kumar assaulted her on Monday morning at Arvind Kejriwal’s residence when she went there to meet the CM.
Repeating the stand taken by the party on the issue, Arvind Kejriwal attacked BJP for arresting Bibhav Kumar. He alleged that Modi govt wants to arrest everyone from AAP, citing arrest of several AAP leaders, including himself, in various corruption cases. Repeating his familiar allegations, Kejriwal claimed that the central govt is arresting AAP leaders because AAP govt in Delhi has done excellent works in education, health, power etc sectors. He alleged that as BJP govt can’t provide these facilities, they want to stop the improvements in Delhi by arresting AAP leaders.
Then he made a significant announcement, saying that he along will all senior leaders of Aam Aadmi Party, including MPs and MLAs, will visit BJP headquarters at 12 PM tomorrow, Sunday, saying they can arrest anyone or everyone, as per their wish. Kejriwal said, “You think you can crush AAP by putting AAP leaders in jail, AAP will not be crushed like this, you try it. Aam Aadmi Party is a thought, which has made its way into the hearts of everyone in the country.”
Notably, Bibhav Kumar was arrested after Swati Maliwal, a Rajya Sabha MP from Aam Aadmi Party along with the chief of Delhi Commission for Women, registered a complaint against him with the Delhi Police. In the Monday morning itself, she had called the Police Control Room to inform that she has been beaten by Bibhav Kumar at Arvind Kejriwal’s residence, and then went to the police station where she repeated the allegations. However, she didn’t file a formal complaint at that time. She finally registered the complaint on Friday, following which Police detained Bibhav Kumar on Saturday.
In the meanwhile, Kumar also has filed a counter-complaint against Swati Maliwal, accusing her of “forcefully and illegally trespassed” into the CM residence despite objections from the CM’s security and staff.
Bibhav denied that he assaulted Swati, and claimed that she had pushed her when prevented her from entering CM’s residential quarters. He claimed Maliwal shouted and screamed, hurled abuses, and questioned the authority of the security personnel. “Her motives were suspect, and she intended to harm the Hon’ble CM,” the complaint stated.
All this happened because Swati Maliwal went to meet Arvind Kejriwal on Monday morning, and she was not allowed to do so saying that she didn’t take an appointment. It is not known why she wanted to meet the CM, and why the CM refused to meet her, going to the extent of throwing her out of the CM’s official residence.
But AAP continues to attack BJP on the issue, even though it is a clash between its own leaders.
After his detention, Delhi Police later today arrested Bibhav Kumar. He had moved court seeking anticipatory bail after he was detained, but his plea was rejected.
