2018 CS assault case: Delhi Court issues notice to Kejriwal, Sisodia on plea challenging their discharge

New Delhi, Nov 01: A Delhi court on Monday sought response from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy and others on a plea filed by former chief secretary Anshu Prakash challenging their discharge in a case of allegedly assaulting him in 2018.

Special Judge Geetanjali Goel issued notice to Kejriwal, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and 9 others on the plea challenging an order that discharged the politicians on August 11.

The criminal case relates to the alleged assault on Prakash during a meeting at Kejriwal's official residence on February 19, 2018 and besides the politicians were made accused in the case. The court directed the Kejriwal, Sisodia and other AAP MLAs - Rajesh Rishi, Nitin Tyagi, Praveen Kumar, Ajay Dutt, Sanjeev Jha, Rituraj Govind, Rajesh Gupta, Madan Lal, and Dinesh Mohania - to file their reply by November 23, when the court will further hear the matter.

Besides 11, the court also issued notice to AAP MLAs Amantullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal against whom the court had ordered framing of the charges. Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra and advocate Kumar Vaibhav, appearing for Anshu Prakash, submitted before the judge that the magisterial court erred in discharging Kejriwal and others in its August order.

Anshu Prakash also sought the framing of additional charges including 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC against Khan and Jarwal. Kejriwal, Sisodia and nine other AAP MLAs were granted bail in October 2018.Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal were granted bail earlier by the high court. The alleged assault had triggered a bitter tussle between the Delhi government and its bureaucrats.