The Rouse Avenue Court has directed Delhi Police to expedite the probe into a 2019 public property defacement case involving AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. The police sought more time, stating Kejriwal is currently not in Delhi.
New Delhi: The Rouse Avenue Court has asked the Delhi Police to speed up the investigation in a case involving the alleged defacement of public property by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The court passed this direction after the police requested more time to question him.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Neha Mittal instructed the investigating officer (IO) to
“expedite the investigation and to file a status report on the next date of hearing, December 3.”
During the recent hearing, the investigating officer told the court that former MLA Gulab Singh and MCD councillor Nitika Sharma had already been questioned in the case.
However, he said that Arvind Kejriwal could not be interrogated yet as “he is not in Delhi.” The officer therefore asked the court for “some more time” to finish the investigation.
Earlier, on September 29, the court had already given the IO more time to complete the probe. The case relates to the alleged defacement of public property in the Dwarka area in 2019.
On August 11, the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) submitted its report on a CD linked to the case against Kejriwal and two others. Following this, the Delhi Police began investigating the matter after registering an FIR as directed by the Rouse Avenue Court.
The FIR names former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, ex-MLA Gulab Singh, and MCD councillor Nitika Sharma as accused.
The police registered the FIR after the court’s order dated March 11, which came in response to a complaint filed by one Shiv Kumar Saksena. The complaint alleged that public property was defaced in the Dwarka locality during 2019.
On March 28, the police informed the court that the FIR had been registered as per its direction. While allowing the plea filed under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.), the court said,
“The court is of the considered opinion that the application under section 156(3) Cr.P.C. deserves to be allowed.”
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ACJM Neha Mittal further directed,
“Accordingly, the concerned SHO is directed to register FIR immediately under section 3 of the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 2007 and any other offence that appears to have been committed from the facts of the case.”
The case is now under active investigation, and the police have been instructed to provide an updated status report on December 3.
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