Swati Maliwal case: Delhi Police adds sections on evidence disappearance, false information against Bibhav Kumar

Swati Maliwal case: The Delhi Police has added another section linked to disappearance of evidence and providing false information against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kerjiwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar in the Swati Maliwal assault case on Monday. Kumar has been accused by Maliwal of assaulting her at the chief minister’s residence on May 13. 

Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been added in the case against Kumar. This section carries a provision for imprisonment of one-sixth of the punishment awarded for the biggest offence in the crime. 

Apart from that Kumar already has charges such as those related to criminal intimidation, assault or criminal force on a woman with the intent to disrobe, and attempt to commit culpable homicide against him. 

According to a senior police officer, Kumar’s phone was found to have been formatted when he was arrested from Kejriwal’s residence on May 18. The police took him to Mumbai twice, where he was before he returned to Delhi, and where he is suspected to have formatted his mobile. The officer said that Kumar has not divulged the information of the place the phone was formatted at and the person who formatted it for him. 

The police have said that Kumar did not cooperate in the investigation. 

Kumar is also believed to have tempered with three CCTV DVRs (digital video recorders) that were collected from Kejriwal’s residence and sent to the forensic science laboratory. It is suspected that the DVRs were tempered with at the forensic science laboratory. The reports on this are awaited. 

Maliwal, the former chief of the Delhi Commission for Women, alleged that Kumar attacked her with full force, slapped and kicked her when she had gone to meet Kejriwal. Kumar was arrested on May 18 and is currently lodged in Tihar jail.