At Home, Arvind Kejriwal Asked 100 Questions For 3 Hours By Delhi Police

New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was questioned by a team of Delhi Police officers at his house for more than three hours this evening over the alleged assault of chief secretary Anshu Prakash at a meeting convened by the Delhi Chief Minister in February. A senior police officer said Arvind Kejriwal was questioned in the same room in which the chief secretary was allegedly assaulted and was reportedly asked over a hundred questions.

Arvind Kejriwal may again be questioned and if needed Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia may also be questioned as the chief minister did not give "satisfactory answers", Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Harendra Singh told reporters after the questioning.

A police officer, present during the questioning, told news agency IANS that Arvind Kejriwal was asked over a hundred questions. The police wanted to know about the sequence of events that took place on February 19 and whether the assault was pre-planned.

The entire questioning was recorded on video, but as per law, a copy of it could not be given to the chief minister, police said, adding two advocates were present with Mr Kejriwal during his questioning at his house on Flagstaff Road in north Delhi. 

Mr Kejriwal, meanwhile, hit out at the centre after the questioning, and said the BJP was behind the move. He also alleged that the cases against Aam Aadmi Party were "fake and politically motivated".

"For the first time in the history of India, a Chief Minister was questioned for fake cases and a raid was conducted by police. There is only one reason behind it -- to disturb us and to defame us," Arvind Kejriwal said in a statement.
 The bureaucrat had complained to the police that he was beaten by two legislators as part of a conspiracy between everyone present in the room, a statement that was seen to point finger at the Chief Minister. The chief minister's private secretary Bibhav Kumar was questioned last month in this case.

Earlier, in a letter addressed to the Station House Officer of Civil Lines Police Station, the chief minister said he would be available at 5 pm today at his camp office. The police had sent him a notice to join the investigation at 11 am.

But Mr Kejriwal requested that the proceedings be recorded on video.

He wrote to the police that if they have issues with him video recording the proceedings, they can make arrangements and provide him the video after the questioning is over, the police said.

Mr Prakash was allegedly assaulted during a meeting at Mr Kejriwal's official residence on February 19.
 The police have already questioned the 11 Aam Aadmi Party legislators, who were present at the chief minister's residence for the meeting. Two legislators Amantullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal were arrested in the case.

Mr Kejriwal, his former advisor VK Jain and Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia were also present there.

On February 23, a police team had examined the CCTV system installed at the chief minister's residence in the Civil Lines area and seized the hard disk. The forensic report on the hard disk is still awaited.

The controversy had triggered a bitter tussle between the Delhi government and its bureaucracy.

With inputs from IANS