AAP MLAs’ bail plea rejected; party fumes as police search CM’s house, Kejriwal says go question Amit Shah

Delhi Police carried out searches at Kejriwal’s residence and seized hard drives of 21 CCTV cameras.

A Delhi Court on Friday rejected the bail plea of the two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs, Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal, in connection with an alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash. Stating that there was no new ground for custodial interrogation, Metropolitan Magistrate Shefali Barnala Tondon said both will remain in 14-days judicial custody.

In a startling development, Chief Secretary Prakash on Tuesday alleged that he was beaten up by two MLAs the presence of Kejriwal at the latter’s residence on Monday night where he had been called for an emergency meeting.

While Jarwal, an MLA from Deoli, was arrested from Defence Colony on Tuesday night, Khan was taken into custody after he came to Jamia Nagar police station with his supporters on Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Police carried out searches at Kejriwal’s residence and seized hard drives of 21 CCTV cameras, seven of which were found non-functional.

The surprise searches triggered strong reactions from AAP, which accused the Delhi Police of acting like a bully by entering the Chief Minister’s residence “illegally” and being a mere “puppet” in the hands of the central government.

“The police team went inside the chief minister’s residence only to “humiliate and insult him (Arvind Kejriwal),” Party leader Ashutosh was quoted as saying by PTI. “They didn’t ask questions on CCTV footage but about the painting of the residence. Delhi Police is responsible for the CCTV cameras in CM’s house, not Arvind Kejriwal.”

AAP leaders also held a press conference, in which they showed a two-and-half-minute clip where senior police officials are seen inside the residence of the chief minister, purportedly asking questions about the wall paint of the room. AAP’s Sanjay Singh tweeted, “Without Modi government’s directive, the police could not have indulged in such “dadagiri”.

Asserting that the BJP government and PM Modi will face the consequences of their actions in 2019 general elections, Singh said, “How is it that the Delhi police can investigate at the CMs residence, something we have no issues with, but why has there been no investigation into the attack of our minister even after we identified the accused.” “This is the police’s dadagiri. Today it’s happening with us (AAP), tomorrow it’ll happen at each home. They stripped Dalits in Gujarat, beat up siblings in the name of anti-Romeo squad in UP. They have an LG in Bengal who has meetings with officials,” Singh said in a tweet.

Attacking BJP President Amit Shah after searches at his residence, Kejriwal asked if Shah too would be questioned on Judge Loya’s death. “A huge posse of policemen was sent to my residence. The entire CM residence is being searched over allegations of two slaps. But when will Amit Shah be questioned in connection with Judge Loya’s death,” he wrote on Twitter.

The Delhi Police, meanwhile, has claimed that their request seeking CCTV footage from the chief minister’s residence in connection with the alleged assault case was not met, prompting them to dispatch a posse there to collect evidence.

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