Kejriwal PA arrested

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal assistant Bibhav Kumar was arrested by the Delhi police on Saturday on the charge of assaulting former Delhi Commission for Women chairperson and Aam Aadmi Party MP Swati Maliwal at the CM’s residence on May 13.

- GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR

Meanwhile, the AAP claimed that she had staged the entire incident at the instance of the BJP, which "blackmailed" her over a pending corruption enquiry against her. AAP spokesperson and Delhi Minister Atishi charged that the entire case was a drama and released videos to claim that Maliwal was not in any distress at the CM's residence.

Though the AAP had made Maliwal its Rajya Sabha MP in January this year, she had a falling out with the top leadership as she was not in India when Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 and only returned from the United States, where she was attending to her ailing sister, a fortnight before his release on interim bail on May 1.

Maliwal had not been able to meet Kejriwal on his release from jail and had gone to his residence without any prior appointment when the alleged assault took place.

The AAP had picked on this aspect and its Delhi minister Atishi had alleged that BJP had hatched a conspiracy to defame Kejriwal and had sent Maliwal to his office as part of it.