Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal tweets police will question his parents today; cruel, says AAP MP

NEW DELHI: AAP's Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal is learnt to have claimed in her statement before the court that she had also met chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s family members, including his wife and parents, and greeted them before entering the drawing room on the day of her alleged assault.

Police said on Wednesday that they would visit the CM’s residence on Thursday after Kejriwal’s parents agreed to record their statements that day. Police had sent a request to the CM's office two days ago, asking for a suitable time when the investigating officer could speak with Kejriwal's wife and parents, said a police source. They will be asked if they had met Maliwal on May 13 and witnessed incidents at the CM’s residence as alleged. The information they give will be compared with CCTV footage.

The police move drew sharp reactions from AAP and Kejriwal. "Tomorrow, Delhi Police will question my elderly parents," the CM posted on X. The party’s Rajya Sabha member, Sanjay Singh, who is currently out on bail, said the move to trouble Kejriwal's ailing father and mother was “cruel and cowardly”. Addressing a press conference, minister Atishi questioned the rationale behind “investigating Kejriwal’s parents”, given their “frail health”.

“CM Arvind Kejriwal’s 85-year-old father requires support to walk and his mother recently returned from a hospital stay,” Atishi said, alleging that BJP was resorting to “despicable tactics out of desperation”.

Sources said the investigating team was trying to ascertain why Maliwal, Kejriwal’s associate for 20 years, was not permitted to meet CM that day. The cops also want to know if Maliwal regularly sought an appointment to meet Kejriwal and how was it that she was able to reach the drawing room from the camp office and also meet family members if she didn’t have an appointment.

Meanwhile, Bibhav Kumar, the arrested personal assistant of Arvind Kejriwal who is alleged to have assaulted Maliwal, was brought back from Mumbai on Wednesday. He was taken to three places in Mumbai, including the Bandra Kurla Complex. Police were aiming to ascertain where he got his iPhone formatted and to retrieve the ‘cloned data’ from the phone that Kumar may have saved somewhere, possibly on the cloud, before the device was formatted to remove information.

On Monday, Kumar had been taken to the CM’s residence at Civil Lines to recreate the alleged crime scene. Kumar was asked to specify his location and activities at the site on the day of the alleged assault. Police had also taken Maliwal to the spot and reconstructed the sequence of events. The security personnel at the CM’s residence were also questioned.

Police are awaiting the forensic report on the seized CCTV footage to see if there are signs of tampering with the evidence.


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