Delhi CM Kejriwal’s PA will face ‘strict action’ over Swati Maliwal row: AAP | India News

NEW DELHI: A day after AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal rushed to the police station after making a PCR call about CM Arvind Kejriwal’s PA Bibhav Kumar having assaulted her, senior party functionary Sanjay Singh told reporters that Kumar had indeed “misbehaved” and the CM would take strict action against him.
At a press conference Tuesday, Singh said, “Yesterday, Maliwal had gone to meet Arvind Kejriwal at his residence.While she was waiting in the drawing room, Bibhav Kumar misbehaved with her. This is a highly condemnable incident. Kejriwal has taken cognisance of it and will take strict action.”
Although Maliwal had gone to Civil Lines Police Station to file a complaint, she left without doing so after receiving some phone calls. She had told the cops that she would return but hadn’t turned up till late at night on Tuesday.
No contact with Maliwal yet, cops explore options
The former chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women hasn’t been seen in public either.
“As far as Maliwal is concerned, she has done great work for the country and society. She is an old and senior leader of the party and we all are with her,” said Sanjay Singh, indicating that the party wanted to put an end to the controversy quickly with Kejriwal all set to undertake hectic campaigning. “CM has taken cognisance and AAP doesn’t support such people, we want to make it clear,” said Sanjay Singh.
The cops have marked Maliwal’s complaint as “pending” and no FIR had been filed. Police have sought legal opinion on whether they can proceed on the basis of the DD entry and PCR call, a protocol followed in many cases.
The police brass, meanwhile, held a meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss the case. Police said they tried to contact Maliwal several times, but she couldn’t be reached. Sources said that the cops were in the process of collecting CCTV footage from outside CM’s residence.
Bibhav and Swati have been with Kejriwal since his NGO days. Maliwal was sent to Rajya Sabha from Delhi in Jan this year.
“After violence against a woman, arrests should have been made immediately,” said Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva. “Why was so much pressure put on Swati Maliwal and why was she silenced?”
“Sanjay Singh’s statement should be the basis for immediate filing of an FIR by police and those guilty should be promptly dealt with. They are just talking about entrapping small fish, but in the end, who instigated this incident and what were the reasons? All these questions should be answered by Kejriwal,” said Sachdeva.
“The CM’s residence is famous for such incidents whether it was the incident involving a former chief secretary or Maliwal. This is the true character of AAP and it is now out in the open,” he said.