Chief Secretary assault: Arvind Kejriwal and 12 AAP lawmakers summoned by Court

In the alleged assault case of Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, Delhi Police on Tuesday submitted a 1,300 page chargesheet in the Court. The Patiala High Court summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and 11 AAP leaders. The CM was asked to be present in Court on October 25.

Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia have been booked under various sections of the IPC, including sections 120B (Punishment of criminal conspiracy) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty).

In the chargesheet, the Police alleged that  Kejriwal, Mr Sisodia and the others had conspired to threaten the Chief Secretary, obstructed him in discharging his public function and caused hurt. They have also been accused of wrongful confinement, intentional insult, abetment and unlawful assembly.

Chief Secretary, Anshu Prakash had also alleged that he was attacked at a late night meeting in February over a delay in releasing a three-year anniversary TV campaign. Initially, he was threatened and then Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal “started hitting and assaulting me”, he said in his complaint.  

The AAP leaders have called this chargesheet and allegations are ‘fake and laughable’. They also said it was the result of the extreme frustration of the Modi government”. AAP further said, “The latest sinister conspiracy has been hatched through a handpicked bureaucrat of the BJP’s Centre to defame the CM and Deputy CM in a totally false and untenable case.”

The alleged attack, which took place during a meeting at the Chief Minister’s House in February, had led to a months-long face-off between the ministers and bureaucrats, which was resolved in June.

Others accused in the case are Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs Amanatullah Khan, Prakash Jarwal, Nitin Tyagi, Rituraj Govind, Sanjeev Jha, Ajay Dutt, Rajesh Rishi, Rajesh Gupta, Madan Lal, Parveen Kumar and Dinesh Mohania, who were present at the chief minister’s residence for the meeting on February 19 in which Prakash was allegedly attacked. 

If convicted, CM Arvind Kejriwal and his lawmakers may get a maximum of seven-year jail term.

Also read: Kejriwal accuses BJP of ruining Delhi through demonetisation, GST, now sealing drive