Delhi Police forms SIT to look into Swati Maliwal assault case

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A week after Rajya Sabha MP for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's former personal secretary Bibhav Kumar of beating her, police announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the Swati Maliwal assault case.

Per an ANI report, Anjitha Chepyala, the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) for North Delhi, is in charge of the SIT and has been leading the inquiry. The SIT also consists of three Inspector-rank officers, one of them being the officer from the Civil Lines Police Station, where the matter was initially reported. 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 told ANI.

According to Delhi Police sources, the accused and the victim's accounts of what happened are currently being examined because the crime scene has been recreated by bringing them both to the location. 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.

Concerning the alleged attack on Maliwal, Kejriwal's former PA was taken into custody earlier on Saturday. After his appearance before the Tis Hazari Court, he was placed under five days of police arrest. In her complaint, Maliwal claimed that Bibhav "kicked" her in her "chest, stomach, and pelvis area" and "slapped" her "at least seven to eight times" as she "kicked and screamed" and "brutally dragged" her. 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.

(With Inputs from ANI)