Swati Maliwal Assault Case: Arvind Kejriwal’s Aide Bibhav Kumar Denied Bail

New Delhi: Delhi Tis Hazari Court on Monday dismissed the bail application moved by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar in the Swati Maliwal alleged assault case. Kumar is accused of assaulting the AAP Rajya Sabha member at the chief minister’s residence on May 13. He was sent to four days’ judicial custody on May 24.

Kumar, the personal assistant to Kejriwal, allegedly assaulted Maliwal at the chief minister’s official residence on May 13. He has been under police custody since Saturday.

Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal allowed the prosecution’s plea seeking Kumar’s judicial custody for four days earlier on Friday. In their remand application, the Delhi Police, who arrested Kumar on May 18, said electronic, scientific and medical evidence along with statements of witnesses have been collected during the investigation.

“That the recovered network video recorders (NVRs) stated to contain relevant materials concerning the present case have been seized as per the procedure and have been sent for examination, opinion, and analysis by the forensic experts, which is awaited and expected to be received within shortest possible time,” the application said.

It claimed Kumar was not cooperating in the investigation, was evasive in his replies and did not disclose his mobile phone password. The city police said the team investigating the case was in Mumbai and was likely to return soon. It said the accused has to be confronted with the evidence gathered from Mumbai and the NVRs.

Kumar’s counsel moved an application seeking a copy of the CCTV footage collected from Kejriwal’s residence of the day when Maliwal was allegedly assaulted.

Special Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava opposed the plea, asserting CCTV footage cannot be provided to the accused under the law at this stage.

The court has reserved its order on Kumar’s plea.