Cops search Delhi CM’s house, seize CCTV footage disks
The policemen spent over two hours searching and questioning the staff and took away boxes full of hardware from CCTV cameras.
New Delhi: The residence of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at Civil Lines on Friday turned into a fortress after a team of over 60 policemen reached there to review security footage in connection with the alleged assault on chief secretary Anshu Prakash by AAP legislators on Monday night.
The policemen spent over two hours searching and questioning the staff and took away boxes full of hardware from CCTV cameras. A police team, including cyber crime and forensic experts, had reached the CM’s residence on Friday morning to collect evidence related to the alleged incident.
Minutes after cops swamped the chief minister’s house, Kejriwal tweeted his disapproval and said, “To investigate two slaps, a chief minister’s house is searched. Doesn’t Judge Loya’s murder call for some inquiry?”
The team seized hard disks containing recordings of 21 CCTV cameras in connection with the alleged assault on the chief secretary.
Reacting to the police search for evidence, Kejriwal wrote on Twitter that his council of ministers had sought an appointment with lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal. “A huge posse of policemen was sent to my residence. The entire CM residence is being searched over allegations of two slaps,” Mr Kejriwal tweeted.
Harender Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police, said all the 21 cameras found at the CM’s residence were slow by 40 minutes and 42 seconds.
“The complaint says the assault happened between 12 midnight and 12.30 am on Tuesday,” Mr Singh said. The footage of one CCTV camera showed the chief secretary leaving CM’s residence around 11.30 pm on Monday.
The additional DCP said the visit to the chief minister’s residence was carried out after informing the people in-charge of the maintenance of the place. He denied reports that the CM was forced to sit for 40 minutes. “We haven’t even interacted with the chief minister,” the officer said.
He said that seven CCTV cameras were not switched on when police found them.
“Our forensic team will be able to say when, and under what circumstances, the recording was stopped,” he said.
The officer said the police were compelled to visit the CM’s residence after investigators’ attempts to seek CCTV footage on February 20 were met with no response.