CS ASSAULT: 13 LEADERS SUMMONED
NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is among the 13 accused summoned by a court on Tuesday over the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash. Kejriwal and other members of the ruoling Aam Aadmi Party have been asked to appear in court on October 25.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal on Tuesday issued a summons after taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police on August 13.
The court said there were sufficient grounds to establish the alleged charges against the accused in the case.
Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia have been booked under various sections of the IPC, including sections 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty).
Others accused in the case are AAP MLAS Amanatullah Khan, Prakash Jarwal, Nitin Tyagi, Rituraj Govind, Sanjeev Jha, Ajay Dutt, Rajesh Rishi, Rajesh Gupta, Madan Lal, Parveen Kumar and Dinesh Mohania, who were present at the Chief Minister's residence
for the meeting on February 19 in which Prakash was allegedly attacked.
In the 3,000-page chargesheet, the Delhi Police alleged that Kejriwal, Sisodia and the others had conspired to threaten the Chief Secretary, obstructed him in discharging his public function and caused hurt. They have also been accused of wrongful confinement, intentional insult, abetment, and unlawful assembly.
Prakash had alleged that he was attacked at a late night meeting in February over a delay in releasing a three-year anniversary TV campaign.
"Initially, I was threatened and then Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal started hitting and assaulting me, he said in his complaint.
The AAP government called the allegations in the police chargesheet "fake and laughable" and said that it was the "result of the extreme frustration of the Modi government".
The alleged attack had led to a months-long face-off between the ministers and bureaucrats, which was resolved in June.