Arvind Kejriwal breaks silence on Swati Maliwal assault case, says 'incident has two versions'

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal breaking silence on Swati Maliwal assault case on Wednesday said that the incident has two versions and he expects a fair investigation into the matter.

In an interview to PTI, Kejriwal said the matter is currently "sub-judice" and his comment might affect the proceedings.

"But I expect there will be a fair investigation. Justice should be served. There are two versions of the event. Police should investigate both versions fairly and justice should be done," the Delhi CM said.


Swati Maliwal responds:
On Kejriwal's comments, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal said, "After unleashing the entire army of leaders and volunteers at me, calling me a BJP agent, assassinating my character, leaking edited videos, victim shaming me, roaming around with the accused, letting him re enter the crime scene and tamper evidences and protesting in favour of the accused, the Chief Minister, in whose drawing room I was beaten up, has finally said that he wants free and fair investigation in the matter."

She said, "Irony died a thousand deaths. I don’t buy this one bit."

Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar is currently in five-day police custody in connection with the case.

Swati Maliwal has accused party chief Arvind Kejriwal's former personal secretary Bibhav Kumar of assaulting her at the Chief Minister's residence.

Kumar has 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.

Maliwal in a post on X earlier alleged that there is a "lot of pressure" on everyone in the party to malign her.

"Yesterday I got a call from a big leader of the party. They told me how there is a lot of pressure on everyone, they have to say bad things against Swati, they have to break her by leaking her personal photos. It is being said that anyone who supports her will be expelled from the party."

She added, "Someone has got the duty of doing press conference and someone has got the duty of tweeting. It is someone's duty to call the volunteers sitting in America and get something out against me."

Meanwhile, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to investigate the Swati Maliwal case. The SIT is headed by North Delhi's Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Anjitha Chepyala who has been handling the investigation. Three Inspector-rank officers are also included in the SIT, which includes the officer of the Civil Lines Police Station where the case was registered.

(With PTI inputs)