Delhi Police Arrest Arvind Kejriwal’s Assistant Bibhav Kumar for Allegedly Assaulting AAP MP Swati Maliwal

The Delhi police on Saturday arrested Bibhav Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal's personal assistant for allegedly physically assaulting AAP MP Swati Maliwal inside the residence of Delhi's Chief Minister. In her FIR, Maliwal stated that she was slapped and kicked in her stomach and pelvic area by Bibhav Kumar when she went to visit Kejriwal at his residence on Monday. However, the Aam Aadmi Party has dismissed the allegations, asserting that Maliwal's actions were politically motivated, purportedly at the behest of the BJP.

Bibhav Kumar's lawyer expressed readiness to cooperate with authorities but stated that he was not informed by the police, despite assurances of full support. "We've not received any information from the police yet. We've sent them an e-mail that we will cooperate in the investigation," said Karan Sharma, Bibhav Kumar’s lawyer. Kumar had also filed a case against Swati Maliwal alleging that the AAP Rajya Sabha MP had abused him.

In her complaint, Maliwal had alleged that she has been physically abused by Bibhav Kumar. She stated that she was slapped and kicked in her stomach and pelvic regions. After she lodged a formal complaint, a medical examination was conducted on Friday. According to her MLC from AIIMS, Maliwal has bruises over her left leg and right cheek elbow below right eye.

However, AAP leader and Delhi Minister Atishi on Friday had rubbished such claims and stated that Maliwal was acting on BJP’s orders to defame Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. “"Ever since Arvind Kejriwal has got bail, the BJP is rattled. Due to this, the BJP hatched a conspiracy, under which Swati Maliwal was sent to Arvind Kejriwal's house on the morning of 13th May. Swati Maliwal was the face and pawn of this conspiracy. They intended to accuse the CM but the CM was not there at that time so he was saved. After that, Swati Maliwal accused Bibhav Kumar,” said Atishi.

Two video clips of the CCTV footage showing the purported incident went viral on social media. The first shows Maliwal seated inside Kejriwal’s house, having a heated conversation with Bibhav Kumar. Drawing inferences to the said video clip, Atishi claimed that Maliwal was “comfortably seated” inside Kejriwal’s house, and “neither her clothes were not torn nor any injury on her head” could be seen in the video. In the second viral video, Maliwal can be seen being escorted out of the Chief Minister’s residence.

BJP was quick to slam AAP over the incident. " From corruption to misconduct to disinformation, standard operating procedure of Aam Aadmi Party, it has become their idea and etiquette to indulge in this kind of modus operandi...in modern time, not just 'cheerharan' happened with 'Draupadi' but also character assassination...this incident happened with Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal on 13th May...at first, they (AAP) remained silent, then after that a little bit acceptance (about the incident) was done by them, after that brazen defence of the accused was done,” said BJP Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala.