The Delhi Police on Friday told the Rouse Avenue Court that they have lodged an FIR against former chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, former AAP MLA Gulab Chand and Dwarka BJP councillor Nitika Sharma for allegedly misusing public money and defacing public property by putting up hoardings in Dwarka in 2019.
The court had on March 11 directed the Delhi Police to register the FIR against Kejriwal and the others. However, the Delhi Police last week informed the court that they were yet to lodge the FIR as they did not have the copy of the original FIR and the complaint as the documents “had been destroyed” over the years.
Submitting the compliance report before the court, the police informed the court that a case under section 3 of the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property (DPDP) Act, 2007, which deals with mischief causing damage to public property, has been lodged against the accused persons at the Dwarka South Police Station.
Appearing before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Mittal, the Delhi Police counsel said that original complaint submitted before the Dwarka South Police SHO was not available and a new copy of the complaint and the application filed before the court required for an FIR to be lodged.
Prosecutor Lalit Pingolia had informed the court that they needed to go through the contents of the complaint again and have moved an application seeking copies of the application and complaint.
Advocate Sowjhanya Shankaran, appearing for complainant Shiv Kumar Saxena, said, “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 also directed the Delhi Police to apply for the certified copies of the documents and put up the matter for compliance on March 28.
The court on March 11 had held that Kejriwal, Gulab Chand and Nitika Sharma, had committed a cognisable offence under the Act, wherein a convicted individual can face imprisonment of up to one year, along with a fine.
In her order, the additional chief judicial magistrate directed the Delhi Police to investigate the matter thoroughly and emphasised the need for a proper inquiry into the origin of the hoardings and the individuals responsible 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 ordered.
Saxena had in his complaint alleged that in 2019, he noticed several hoardings at various locations in Dwarka, and one of the hoardings stated that the then AAP government in Delhi would soon start registrations for darshan at Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan; the hoardings featured the photographs of Arvind Kejriwal and then-Matiyala MLA Chand.
Another hoarding allegedly bore the photo of Sharma alongside images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders. Saxena contended that these hoardings were illegally put up, defacing public property in the area.
Following his initial complaint to the Dwarka South police station, Saxena pursued further action, writing to the Dwarka deputy commissioner of police. However, after failing to receive a satisfactory response, he approached the Dwarka court, seeking an FIR.
In September 2022, the Dwarka court dismissed Saxena’s application, stating that no field investigation was necessary in the matter. But Saxena filed a review petition before the Rouse Avenue Court, which overturned the previous decision and directed the magistrate to reconsider the case.
On Tuesday, the court strongly criticised the Delhi Police for its handling of the investigation, noting that its action taken report (ATR) was conspicuously silent on whether the hoardings had been placed at 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 stated.
The prosecution argued that given the passage of time, gathering evidence would now be impossible, particularly because details of the printing press were unavailable. However, the court firmly rejected this claim.
“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 read.
The court also reprimanded the police for repeatedly delaying the filing of ATRs, despite multiple directives.
“The investigating agency cannot shrug away its responsibility by saying that evidence cannot be collected due to lapse of time,” noted the court.
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