New Delhi: A Delhi court (दिल्ली कोर्ट) dropped all charges against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (अरविंद केजरीवाल), Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia (मनीष सिसोदिया) and nine other AAP MLAs (आप विधायक) on Wednesday in connection with the 2018 assault case of Delhi's then Chief Secretary (मुख्य सचिव) Anshu Prakash. However, the court ordered framing of charges against AAP MLAs (आप विधायक) Amanatullah Khan (अमानतुल्लाह खान) and Prakash Jarwal.
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia (मनीष सिसोदिया) welcoming the verdict said, "It's a day of victory of justice and truth. The court said that all allegations in the matter were false and baseless, CM was acquitted today in that false case. We had been saying that the allegations were false. It was a conspiracy hatched against CM."
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Earlier in July, the Supreme Court had junked a plea by the Delhi Police challenging the high court order, which had asked it to supply the copy of the statement of a witness in the assault case to the accused.
A bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud told the police, "It may be a hot political potato for you, but there is nothing in it legally." The bench also comprising Justice M.R. Shah added that in accordance with the basic principle of natural justice, there must be a "robust common sense", which is that the accused must have the witness's statement copy.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal (अरविंद केजरीवाल), Deputy CM Manish Sisodia (मनीष सिसोदिया) and nine other MLAs (विधायक) were booked for criminal conspiracy by the police, while two MLAs Prakash Jarwar and Amanatullah Khan (अमानतुल्लाह खान) were accused of assaulting and threatening the Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash. Chief Secretary (मुख्य सचिव) Anshu Prakash had alleged that he was assaulted during a meeting at the Delhi CM's official residence on February 19, 2018. The alleged assault on the bureaucrat had triggered a bitter fight between the Delhi government and its bureaucrats.