The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged that “BJP’s goons” attacked Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s residence on Thursday when he was not present. The party claimed that it was done with the support of the police who were present at the spot.
Six people have been arrested and a case registered, said Eish Singhal, Delhi Police PRO.
While the AAP shared a video of the purported attack, the BJP, which had organised a protest outside Mr. Sisodia’s residence for allegedly being part of a plot to “kill” MCD Mayors sitting on a dharna outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence over the last four days, countered the AAP’s allegations, stating that the “real” protest was peaceful and the video shared as evidence by the party was “fake.”
Kejriwal’s query to Rajnath
Mr. Kejriwal soon entered the fray of what snowballed into a political war as he took on Defence Minister Rajnath Singh over the issue of attacks on political leaders in a democracy.
Mr. Singh, referring to the attack on BJP president J.P Nadda’s convoy in West Bengal on Thursday, tweeted “In a democracy, it is very worrying to target political leaders in this way. Given the seriousness of the attack on the convoy of the BJP national president, it should be thoroughly investigated and the responsibility of this incident should be fixed.”
Mr. Kejriwal responded, “Rajnath ji, don't you think that a violent attack on Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister's residence in the presence of police is wrong? Why is there so much anger in the BJP over the support of the farmers' movement by the Aam Aadmi Party and the Delhi government?”
Earlier in the day, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said at a press conference, “When the Deputy Chief Minister was not present at his house, BJP workers, who can be called ‘BJP’s goons’, attacked his house a while back, when only women were present”.
CCTV footage
At the press conference, the party showed CCTV footage of a group of protesters entering the gate of Mr. Sisodia's residence.
The Delhi Police is under the Central government.
AAP leader Atishi said the attackers had “police protection”.
Mr. Bharadwaj claimed that the Delhi Police officials who were responsible to protect the residence of the Deputy Chief Minister had prior information of the attack and intentionally removed the barricade so that the BJP supporters could enter the house.
“Even after entering the premises of his residence, the protesters were not arrested. It was other officials who were present there who got them out of the premises”, he told The Hindu .
Video is fake: BJP
Delhi BJP vice president Ashok Goel Devraha, who led the protest outside Mr. Sisodia’s residence, said the video shared by the AAP was fake. “Our protest was peaceful. As far as the video is concerned, the time stamp on it is from July this year; the AAP has become so desperate that it first stages such incidents and then uses them to seek attention,” he alleged.
The police said they received a request from the BJP regarding a protest outside Mr. Sisodia’s residence on Mathura Road, which they rejected as no gathering or protest is allowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At 11.30 am, a group gathered at a police barricade near Mr. Sisodia's house. A group of protesters jumped it and entered the camp office inside. The police staff on duty acted swiftly and held six persons who trespassed and they were taken to the Mandir Marg police station.
“We have received a complaint from the Deputy CM’s secretary at the Tilak Marg police station. An FIR has been registered under relevant sections of the IPC. The CCTV of the incident will be examined”, said the police PRO.
