Discrepancies in timings of footage from CM’S house, police tell court

NEWDELHI: The Delhi Police told a city court on Monday that there were discrepancies in the timings of the CCTV footage obtained from chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence and the actual time on the clock visible in the footage in connection with the alleged assault case of chief secretary Anshu Prakash.

The sessions court was hearing arguments on a bail plea filed by AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal, accused of assaulting the chief secretary during a midnight meeting at the chief minister’s residence. Police on Friday had searched Kejriwal’s residence in Civil Lines and seized hard disks containing footage from 21 CCTV cameras, which were allegedly found to be slow by 40 minutes and 43 seconds.

Police informed the court that it has called for the examination of the CCTV footage by a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team.

However, Advocate BS Joon, the counsel for the MLA, argued that the case was “politically-motivated” and offences were not made out against the accused.

The court reserved its order on the bail plea for Tuesday.

“The defence counsel while arguing for the bail of the accused stated that police must prove that tampering has been done. The court was informed that the site visit revealed discrepancies in the timings. Only FSL will be able to tell if any tampering has been done,” said Harendra K Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (North).

AAP MLAS Prakash Jarwal and Amanatullah Khan, also an accused in the case, were sent to jail for 14 days on Thursday.

Joon said Khan’s wife visited him in jail, where he allegedly told her that he is being threatened and harassed by the inmates. Based on that information, Joon moved an application in a magisterial court, which has called for a report from Mandoli Jail authorities by February 28.

“Also, the court has ordered preservation of call detail records of the chief secretary on another application moved by us,” Joon said. This was for the second time that Jarwal had moved a bail plea. A court on Friday had denied the relief to him and Khan, pointing out that they were “history-sheeters.”