Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia on Tuesday moved a local court seeking a directive to stop the police from “leaking the contents of the chargesheet” filed in connection with the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash in February. The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate sought a reply from the Delhi Police by August 25.
On Monday, the police said it had filed a chargesheet and named Kejriwal and Sisodia in the document. Legislators Amanatullah Khan, Prakash Jarwal, Nitin Tyagi, Rituraj Govind, Sanjeev Jha, Ajay Dutt, Rajesh Rishi, Rajesh Gupta, Madan Lal, Parveen Kumar and Dinesh Mohania were also named in it.
But the state government referred to the document as “bogus” and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government of using the police as a “political tool”.
The AAP legislators’ petition on Tuesday claimed that the “investigating agency is selectively leaking the excerpts of the charge sheet to the media malafidely, to assassinate the character of the persons allegedly mentioned in the charge sheet, especially Kejriwal and Sisodia.” The plea accused the police of sharing information that was sub-judice.
AAP asked the court to restrain the police from such “uncalled for, unwarranted and biased comments” that would lead to an “irreparable loss” to Kejriwal and Sisodia’s image, PTI reported.
Prakash had claimed that he was assaulted by Jarwal and Amanatullah Khan at Kejriwal’s residence on February 19. The police had questioned 11 AAP legislators who were present, including Kejriwal and Sisodia. Kejriwal’s adviser, VK Jain, resigned a few weeks after the incident. Jain, who was a witness in the case, was also questioned by the police.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!