NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court on Friday sought a status report from the police on the probe being carried out into the alleged vandalism outside chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence. After examining a video of the incident, it said that the security was inadequate and the “unruly crowd” sought to create an “element of fear”.
The court was hearing a plea filed by AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj who sought the constitution of a special investigation team for a fair probe into the incident. The vandalism appears to have been carried out with police’s complicity, he alleged.
“We have seen the videos, it is an unruly crowd that goes there. They deface entry doors, break the boom barrier, break cameras. People tried to climb over the gate… (but) it appears that entering the residence was not their intent. After creating ruckus, they sit on the other side of the road. Some of them damaged public property,” a bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla stated and granted two weeks’ time to Delhi Police to file its status report in a sealed cover.
“It appears that the cops present there did try to stop them but were outnumbered. You need to explain what your bandobast was,” the bench added.
ASG Jain, appearing for Delhi Police, stated that an FIR had been registered in relation to the alleged attack and all steps were being taken to address the safety concerns. All the evidence, including the CCTV footage from cameras around the CM’s residence as well as the arterial roads towards it, will be preserved, he said.
“A case has been registered suo motu by Delhi Police. Investigation is on. Eight have been arrested,” Jain said, adding that the petition has been filed as a “publicity exercise”.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi urged the court to issue notice on the petition and pass a direction for the preservation of CCTV footage of the incident. Another senior advocate Rahul Mehra objected to the registration of an “unnamed” FIR when there are videos to show the presence of a member of Parliament.
