JOIN USCops search Kejri's home, seize CCTV hard drive
The Delhi Police descended on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence and seized a hard disk of the CCTV system in connection with the assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash.
Kejriwal hit back asking whether the police had the courage to question BJP chief Amit Shah in the mysterious death of Brijgopal Harkishan Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case in which he was an accused.
A posse of policemen reached the chief minister's residence in north Delhi's Civil Lines area in the morning "without intimation", as claimed by a Kejriwal aide.
"We had asked for the CCTV camera footage and hard disk on February 20 itself but there was no response. So we decided to come down and examine it," Additional DCP (North) Harendra Singh said.
The in-charge of maintenance at the residence had been intimated about their visit, he added.
Twenty-one CCTV cameras - seven were not working - and a hard disk were examined by the police.
Also, there was a time lag of 40.43 minutes with respect to the time of the incident, Singh said.
The hard disk has been seized and any possibility of "tampering" could be ascertained only through forensic examination.
"There was no CCTV camera in the room where the incident happened and no footage was obtained. We believe the incident occurred between midnight of February 19 and 12.15 am on February 20," Singh said.
The police officer did not deny the possibility of questioning Kejriwal, whom Prakash claimed in his complaint did nothing to rescue him.
As the police were searching Kejriwal's residence, the chief minister said that he and his Cabinet colleagues would meet Lt Governor Anil Baijal to impress upon the officers to cooperate with them.
After the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Baijal assured that he would talk to the officers.
The officers have announced that they would not attend meetings called by the ministers till the chief minister apologises.
The protest may affect the preparation of the Budget scheduled to be presented next month.
The two AAP MLAs who were arrested, Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal, did not get relief from judicial custody.
Another MLA, Naresh Ballyan, kicked up a controversy with his statement against the chief secretary.
Balyan said, "In my opinion, such officers deserve to be beaten up. People who hinder the work of the common man deserve to be treated in this manner".
The IAS officers met Minister of State (MoS) for Personnel Jitendra Singh to air their grievances. The MoS assured them that strict measures would be taken to ensure that officials work in safety.