A dagger has pierced the heart of Delhi administration. As Delhi bleeds, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is struggling to stem the crisis. 

Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was allegedly assaulted inside CM Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on the intervening night of February 19 and 20. Two days later, around 60 policemen entered the CM’s residence without any prior communication and conducted a marathon two-hour search operation. 

The incident is not a common event. The rooms were searched, the CCTV footages were checked and the police also inquired when the walls were last painted. 

It wasn’t a search operation necessitated by a murder or some other heinous crime—the move was triggered by a physical assault on the most powerful bureaucrat in the capital.

Additional DCP North Harendra Kumar Singh told this correspondent that the need for the search operation was communicated to the CM’s office at noon, that is, when the police reached the CM’s residence. 

Did the police not bother to follow due process and a semblance of decency because it reports to the Union Home Ministry and not Kejriwal?

Soon after, Delhi witnessed the second half of the political turmoil. Visibly angry senior AAP leader Ashutosh tried to rip apart the Delhi police during a presser held at the party office. 

AAP’s lawyer BS Joon said Delhi Police’s search operation was “in violation of laws” and “preposterous”. 

Entering the CM’s residence is restricted and a prior notice should have been served, he said. “The police entered the lawn area. Were they looking for a dead body? An investigation like this is required in a murder case, not in the cases of an ‘assault’,” Joon said. 

The party pointed out that a letter addressed to the “OSD in charge” was used by the police to carry out the search operation. AAP leader Ashutosh said that no such officer is posted at the CM’s residence. Meanwhile, Kejriwal also slammed the police for the action triggered by the alleged “two slaps”.

Delhi bureaucrats later met Union minister Jitendra Singh, further escalating the governance crisis in Delhi. And then, Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues met Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.

Inconsistencies in statements

Delhi Police team, led by the additional DCP, searched the CM’s 6 Flagstaff Marg residence. In the two hours of search, it seized the footage of CCTV cameras installed. It questioned the staff and others present inside. “There are 21 cameras installed out of which 14 were operational. We have seized recordings of 21 CCTV cameras and a hard disk,” Singh told the media.

The party, meanwhile, is dubbing the search operation as a tool used to “insult” Kejriwal. It is important to note that the police’s search has left the AAP red-faced. 

AAP tried to debunk the chief secretary’s MLC report—which reported a “bruise” on his lower lip and a “swelling” behind the ears—by pointing to the time stamp of him walking out of the CM’s residence at 11:30 on the night of February 19 in the CCTV footage.

Singh said, “The timings on the CCTV cameras were running behind time, to be precise, by 40 minutes and 43 seconds.”

Singh repeatedly said, “There were no cameras inside the room where the meeting took place.” 

A day after the incident, Delhi government advisor and AAP leader Atishi Marlena denied there was any physical assault and said the party will release the video when Prakash substantiates his claim.

When there were no cameras installed inside the room where the meeting took place, which video footage was the AAP talking about?  

“Our stand is vindicated. If there is a problem with the time stamp of the CCTV footage, then it is the responsibility of the Delhi Police,” Ashutosh told Newslaundry. 

AAP MLAs denied bail

Meanwhile, on Friday, the Delhi court once again refused to grant bail to two AAP legislators under judicial custody for allegedly assaulting the chief secretary. 

Metropolitan Magistrate Shefali Barnala Tandon dismissed the bail petition of Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan and Deoli MLA Prakash. But the only sigh of relief for the AAP was that the court declined to grant their custody to the police.  

Prakash was called for the said meeting on the night of February 19. CM Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and 11 AAP legislators and former legislators were present at the meeting.

The argument that took place in the meeting was not only “heated” (as claimed by AAP), it was ugly and insulting to the chief secretary. A highly placed source told this correspondent, “The meeting turned really ugly for the chief secretary. However, the CS didn’t respond to the legislators in similar words and manner.”  He added that the words used by Khan and a couple of other MLAs were insulting in nature.

According to the police, the meeting lasted barely seven minutes. This source said that “the CM stopped the legislators and tried to contain the situation”. But Prakash walked away. This is when Prakash could be first seen walking out of the residence—where AAP MLA Nitin Tyagi tries to stop him—followed by his car.

Only a fair probe can reveal whether the CS was assaulted at the CM’s residence or not, but it is clear AAP has learned nothing from the series of incidents triggered by the allegations. On Friday, AAP MLA Naresh Balyan bizarrely said the officers who block files related to public welfare should be beaten up.

Delhi administration

Administration in Delhi has come to a standstill. It appears the “breakdown” between the elected government and the bureaucracy is beyond repair—at least for now. The officers have openly said that they don’t trust the AAP government with their safety and dignity.  

LG Baijal warned Delhi government after meeting the chief minister and his colleagues, saying there is no place for “violence in democracy”.