New Delhi: The Tis Hazari Court of Delhi remanded Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar four days of judicial custody on Friday in connection with the alleged Swati Maliwal assault case.
He was produced before the court after five days of police custody. The court has listed the matter for hearing on Monday and sought a response from the Delhi police.
Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal remanded Bibhav Kumar in judicial proceedings after hearing submissions of Delhi Police and defence counsels, Rajiv Mohan and Rajat Bhardwaj.
After producing Bibhav Kumar, Delhi police sought four days of judicial custody of him.
Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Atul Srivastava submitted that during the investigation, DVR containing CCTV footage was seized and sent to an expert for analysis. An investigation is at the initial stage.
Therefore the accused may be sent to judicial custody for four days.
Defence counsel Rajiv Mohan opposed the request for custody and argued that the custody depends on the necessity.
An application was also moved on behalf of the accused, Bibhav Kumar, to protect DVR seized during the investigation and place it on record.
APP Atul Srivastava opposed the application and submitted that this is not the stage for seeking a copy of CCTV footage This application may be dismissed, he added.
APP Srivastava also argued that the accused is not the occupier of CCTV. He submitted that the pen drive which was found blank, sent been to FSL.
It was also submitted that the seized DVR has been sent to an expert and a report is awaited.
Defence counsel Rajat Bhardwaj argued that police lied before the court to seek remand of the accused. How the Pen drive was found blank without consulting the expert.
The court has reserved the order on application for May 28.
On May 19, While granting five days of police custody of Bibhav Kumar, the court had observed, "The fact not finding of the video footage in pen-drive provided by the JE to the IO during course of the investigation and getting formatting of the mobile phone by the accused speaks in volume."
The court also noted the submissions of police that it is not the first criminal case against the accused. "Every investigation is a quest to find the truth and it is ultimate goal of every investigation," the court observed.
The court had noted that the case is at a nascent stage. Allegations made in the complaint/FIR is corroborated in her statement recorded by Learned.
MM under section 164 Cr.P.C. on oath and further it is again corroborated in MLC of the victim/complainant.The court also perused the case file as well as the case diaries.
