The Delhi Police on Friday instructed the Rouse Avenue Courtroom that they’ve lodged an FIR in opposition to former chief minister and Aam Aadmi Get together (AAP) nationwide convenor Arvind Kejriwal, former AAP MLA Gulab Chand and Dwarka BJP councillor Nitika Sharma for allegedly misusing public cash and defacing public property by placing up hoardings in Dwarka in 2019.
Aam Aadmi Get together nationwide convenor Arvind Kejriwal. (ANI Photograph)
The court docket had on March 11 directed the Delhi Police to register the FIR in opposition to Kejriwal and the others. Nevertheless, the Delhi Police final week knowledgeable the court docket that they had been but to lodge the FIR as they didn’t have the copy of the unique FIR and the grievance because the paperwork “had been destroyed” through the years.
Submitting the compliance report earlier than the court docket, the police knowledgeable the court docket {that a} case underneath part 3 of the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property (DPDP) Act, 2007, which offers with mischief inflicting harm to public property, has been lodged in opposition to the accused individuals on the Dwarka South Police Station.
Showing earlier than Extra Chief Judicial Justice of the Peace Neha Mittal, the Delhi Police counsel mentioned that unique grievance submitted earlier than the Dwarka South Police SHO was not accessible and a brand new copy of the grievance and the applying filed earlier than the court docket required for an FIR to be lodged.
Prosecutor Lalit Pingolia had knowledgeable the court docket that they wanted to undergo the contents of the grievance once more and have moved an software looking for copies of the applying and grievance.
Advocate Sowjhanya Shankaran, showing for complainant Shiv Kumar Saxena, mentioned, “They (Delhi Police) claim that the original complaint has been destroyed… How is that possible? I have already forwarded them the digital copy of the complaint.”
The court docket additionally directed the Delhi Police to use for the licensed copies of the paperwork and put up the matter for compliance on March 28.
The court docket on March 11 had held that Kejriwal, Gulab Chand and Nitika Sharma, had dedicated a cognisable offence underneath the Act, whereby a convicted particular person can face imprisonment of as much as one 12 months, together with a fantastic.
In her order, the extra chief judicial Justice of the Peace directed the Delhi Police to research the matter completely and emphasised the necessity for a correct inquiry into the origin of the hoardings and the people chargeable for their placement.
“Investigation is required to be carried out by the investigating agency to unravel the facts as to from where the hoardings were printed, who has put up the said hoardings, at whose instance the hoardings were put up,” the court docket ordered.
Saxena had in his grievance alleged that in 2019, he seen a number of hoardings at varied places in Dwarka, and one of many hoardings acknowledged that the then AAP authorities in Delhi would quickly begin registrations for darshan at Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan; the hoardings featured the images of Arvind Kejriwal and then-Matiyala MLA Chand.
One other hoarding allegedly bore the photograph of Sharma alongside photos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and different senior BJP leaders. Saxena contended that these hoardings had been illegally put up, defacing public property within the space.
In September 2022, the Dwarka court docket dismissed Saxena’s software, stating that no area investigation was obligatory within the matter. However Saxena filed a overview petition earlier than the Rouse Avenue Courtroom, which overturned the earlier choice and directed the Justice of the Peace to rethink the case.
On Tuesday, the court docket strongly criticised the Delhi Police for its dealing with of the investigation, noting that its motion taken report (ATR) was conspicuously silent on whether or not the hoardings had been positioned on the alleged time.
“The statement in the ATR that no hoardings were found on the date of inquiry appears to be an attempt by the investigating agency to play hoodwink with the court,” the order acknowledged.
The prosecution argued that given the passage of time, gathering proof would now be not possible, notably as a result of particulars of the printing press had been unavailable. Nevertheless, the court docket firmly rejected this declare.
“Though the said submission appears to be attractive on the face of it, but this court cannot presume the fact that ordering investigation would be a futile exercise without even giving a chance to the investigating agency, especially in this era of scientific and technological advancement,” the order learn.
The court docket additionally reprimanded the police for repeatedly delaying the submitting of ATRs, regardless of a number of directives.
“The investigating agency cannot shrug away its responsibility by saying that evidence cannot be collected due to lapse of time,” famous the court docket.