Cops to trace mobile locations of 9 MLAS

CHIEF SECY ‘ASSAULT’ Anshu Prakash had said nine more MLAS were present at CM’S house; Baijal meets home minister to discuss impasse

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police is in the process of obtaining the mobile phone locations of nine Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAS who were allegedly present when chief secretary Anshu Prakash was allegedly assaulted by two other party legislators — Prakash Jarwal and Amanatullah Khan — at chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on February 19.

Investigators said they would examine CCTV camera footage of the CM’S residence to corroborate the presence of all the MLAS and find out who came when and what happened before and after the alleged assault on the chief secretary.

Police said they would first wait for forensic experts to establish if the footage was tampered with or not. Jarwal and Khan are presently in judicial custody.

On Saturday evening, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the impasse in Delhi’s administration tfollowing the alleged assault on Prakash.

Baijal, who had submitted a report to the home ministry on February 21, reportedly apprised Singh of the stand of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet and that of the bureaucrats.

A 55-member police team raided Kejriwal’s official Civil Lines residence on Friday to gather ‘scientific evidence’ in the case. The team led by Harendra Kumar Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police (north), seized digital video recorders and hard disks containing footage of 21 CCTV cameras, seven of which were found to be not functioning.

The AAP had then cried foul and termed the search at the CM’S residence ‘unlawful’ as no prior notice had been given.

A police officer privy to the probe said the chief secretary in his statement had said nine legislators, apart from Kejriwal and deputy CM Manish Sisodia, were present at the CM’S residence when Jarwal and Khan allegedly assaulted him during a late-night meeting.

“Before probing the role of the nine MLAS, it is important to establish if they all were present in the room where the meeting was held. For this, we will have to ascertain the location of their cell phones and their official vehicles at the time of the assault,” said the officer.

There were reports on Saturday that the investigating team had sent notices to the nine MLAS, asking them to join the probe. But Dependra Pathak, special commissioner of police and chief spokesperson of Delhi Police, denied it.

“We have not sent any notice to any of the nine AAP MLAS. Whatever professional requirement is required in the probe, we will do it as per law,” said Pathak.

Before probing the role of the nine MLAS, it is important to establish if they all were present in the room where the meeting was held. For this, we will have to ascertain the location of their cell phones and their official vehicles at the time of the assault.