Swati Maliwal assault case: Footage of incident might have been tampered with, say cops

The Delhi Police has said that the footage of the May 13 assault on Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader Swati Maliwal might have been tampered with by the prime accused Bibhav Kumar to destroy evidence. Citing a remand note from the police, a report by NDTV on Sunday (May 19) said that police officials pointed out that a portion of the footage from the CCTV cameras at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence (whenthe assault happened) was blank.

As per the NDTV report, police officials said that they did not receive the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) so that they could scan the assault footage as part of the investigation. CCTV cameras at Delhi CM's residence are under the purview of the Public Works Department (PWD).

The remand note said that ajunior engineer from the PWD gave the policeone video in a pen drive that was found blank. According to the notean investigation revealed that this engineer did not have access to the DVR.

Bibhav Kumar sent to five-day police custody

Earlier, Maliwal claimed that the CCTV cameras at Kejriwal's residence were being tampered with, and edited videos of the assault were being released.

Bibhav Kumar, Kejriwal's aide, was arrested on Saturday and sent tofive-day police custody by a Delhi court in connection with the case. Kumar wasproduced before Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal who awarded the custody.

पहले मुझे बेरहमी से Bibhav ने पीटा। थप्पड़ और लातें मारी। जब मैंने ख़ुद को छुड़ा के 112 कॉल करी, तो बाहर जाके सिक्योरिटी बुलायी और वीडियो बनाने लगा। मैं सिक्योरिटी को चीख चीख के बता रही थी की मुझे बहुत बेरहमी से Bibhav ने पीटा है। वो पूरा लंबा हिस्सा वीडियो का edit कर दिया गया।… https://t.co/01rqPlVVde — Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) May 18, 2024

Police, through their counsel, had sought seven-day custody of Kumar to question him.

Maliwal, the former chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) said that she was assaulted by Kumar on May 13. She claimedshe was slapped and kicked multiple times by Kumar.

पार्टी में कल के आए नेताओं से 20 साल पुरानी कार्यकर्ता को BJP का एजेंट बता दिया। दो दिन पहले पार्टी ने PC में सब सच क़बूल लिया था और आज U-Turn

ये गुंडा पार्टी को धमका रहा है, मैं अरेस्ट हुआ तो सारे राज़ खोलूँगा। इसलिए ही लखनऊ से लेकर हर जगह शरण में घूम रहा है।

आज उसके दबाव में… — Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) May 17, 2024

"There was a time when we all came out on the streets to get justice for Nirbhaya. Today, after 12 years, we are out on the streets to save the accused who made the CCTV footage disappear and formatted the phone? I wish I had used this much force for Manish Sisodia ji. If he had been here, maybe this bad thing wouldn't have happened to me!" she said in a post on X on Sunday.

Kumar didn't provide password of phone to probe agency

On Saturday, police told the court thatKumar did not provide the password of his mobile phone to the investigating agency and had also informed that his phone had been formatted in Mumbai due to some malfunctioning in the device.

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Police said before being formatted the data of a mobile phone had to be cloned and Kumar was required to be taken to Mumbai for retrieving the data.The accused’s presence was also needed when his mobile phone was opened by an expert, they added.

(With inputs from agencies)