'If Manish Sisodia were here, this wouldn't have happened to me': Swati Maliwal hits out at AAP protest against arrest of Kejriwal's PA

Hitting out at the AAP demonstrators for painting the assault on her in a political colour, she referred to the protest in the wake of the 2012 Delhi gangrape-murder

Maliwal posted on X, "There was a time when he hit the streets to get justice for Nirbhaya. Twelve years later, they are hitting the streets to save an accused who deleted CCTV footage and formatted the phone."

Delhi Police have stated that Bibhav Kumar, the former personal secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the primary suspect in an assault case, might have tampered with the CCTV footage from the Chief Minister's residence to destroy evidence, according to media reports.

According to the remand note, Kumar has also erased data from his phone. Kumar, a close associate of Kejriwal, has been arrested and is currently in police custody, reported NDTV.

In her post, Maliwal also mentioned that this situation could not have happened to her if the former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia were not in jail.

"I wish they had tried so hard for Manish Sisodia. If he was here, maybe something so bad would not have happened to me," she said.

One of AAP’s top leaders, Sisodia, is incarcerated for more than a year in relation with a money laundering case linked to Delhi's now-scrapped liquor policy.

A Rajya Sabha member and former chief of the Delhi Commission for Women, Maliwal has alleged that Bibhav Kumar slapped her multiple times and kicked her when she went to meet the Chief Minister at his residence on May 13.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh had earlier stated that the Chief Minister's aide had misbehaved with her and that Kejriwal will take strict action, said the report.

The BJP has called the incident as "shameful". Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva told news agency ANI, "I am happy that the accused Bibhav Kumar has been arrested. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should break his silence on this matter because he was present at that time in that house. A woman has been assaulted in that house. It would be good if people of the AAP would have come in support of her. We welcome the investigation initiated against him and hope that strict action is taken against him."

The AAP has called the entire incident of alleged assault on Swati Maliwal a part of conspiracy by BJP as the AAP MP has been named in a corruption case.

"Anti-Corruption Bureau of the BJP has filed a case against Swati Maliwal regarding the illegal recruitment of contractual employees in DCW. A charge sheet has been filed and the time of conviction is coming, we believe that Swati Maliwal is being included in the conspiracy by using this case," AAP leader and Delhi Minister Atisi said, reported news agency PTI.

Delhi CM and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "playing the game" of sending AAP leaders such as Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, and Sanjay Singh to jail.

"They are after our party and sending our leaders to jail one after another... Today you have sent my PA (Bibhav Kumar) to jail," he said, adding that the BJP is saying they will send AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj to jail too.

Countering Atishi's allegations, Sachdeva said, "It would have been better if she (Atishi) would've spoken in favour of Maliwal. I understand she would've done this to save her seat in the party, but I want to ask her, if the person who has been assaulted is a leader of AAP, who assaulted her is a leader of AAP, in whose house she was assaulted is also a leader of AAP, the whole circus belongs to AAP, how is BJP involved in the matter?"