Delhi Latest News Highlights: Demolition of over 250 houses underway in Khyber Pass; people trapped, movement restricted

The Delhi High Court has dismissed the bail plea of CM Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar arrested by the delhi police in a case pertaining to the alleged assault of Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal.

A single judge bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta said, “No doubt the petitioner(Kumar) happens to be only designated as the PS but the facts and circumstances reflect that he yields considerable influence and it cannot be ruled out that witnesses may be influenced or evidence may be tampered with in case the petitioner is released on bail at this stage”.

The HC further said, “Keeping in view the nature and brevity of accusations and apprehension of the witnesses being influenced no grounds are made out for releasing the petitioner on bail at this stage. application is accordingly dismissed”.

Detailed copy of the order is awaited.

Kumar, who was arrested on May 18, moved the HC, after the trial court denied him bail on June 7.

He has been booked under various provisions of the IPC including those pertaining to assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe, criminal intimidation, attempt to commit culpable homicide among others.

Pankaj Gupta, the National Secretary of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), is set to represent the party in court on Friday. AAP has been summoned in connection with a money laundering case related to the excise policy "scam." Both the party and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were named in the seventh prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in this case.

The Delhi BJP, led by state chief Virendra Sachdeva, is protesting against electricity price hikes by the AAP government at Shahidi Park in ITO.

As a result, Delhi Police issued a traffic advisory, warning that Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg (BSZ Marg) may be closed between 10:30 AM and 12:30 PM.

Commuters are advised to avoid BSZ Marg and IP Marg and plan their journeys accordingly.

Though the Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after he challenged his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise policy case, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener will not walk out of jail just yet.

This is because Kejriwal is still in judicial custody till July 12 in the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI’s) corruption case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

While granting Kejriwal bail, the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta referred some questions regarding the need and necessity of the arrest to a larger bench of the Supreme Court. Click here

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national general secretary Sandeep Pathak on Friday stated, "I want to tell the BJP that this case is nothing but a circus created by you." He also added, "Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and the BHP have contributed just one thing to the nation…a dictatorial system where any leader whom they cannot confront and defeat politically is fraudulently and wrongly arrested" We have to move on from this kind of politics…we have to take the country forward…I request the PM and Amit Shah ji to step out of this dirty politics and do positive politics" said Sandeep Pathak.

AAP leader Atishi on Friday stated, "I want to tell the BJP today that each and every court of the country has exposed your conspiracy one by one…each court has said that there is no proof against Arvind Kejriwal ji and each court is granting bail to him. I want to tell the BJP to end its arrogance and stop with its pride and to stop conspiring against other political parties and against democracy."

The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Delhi government on Thursday arrested a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) driver after he was allegedly caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 for clearing the dues of a water tanker owner.

The driver, Niranjan, was arrested after the water tanker owner approached the Delhi ACB, alleging that he had asked him to pay a bribe to get his pending dues of Rs 30 lakh cleared. The complainant said that the DJB had hired his water tankers but had not paid him rent since 2022.

This is the first case registered by the Delhi ACB under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, officials said. Read

The city's minimum temperature was 29.6°C, with the weather department predicting moderate rain.

At 8:30 am, humidity was 76%.

The forecast included a generally cloudy sky with light to moderate rain, thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds.

The maximum temperature is expected to be around 36°C. The Air Quality Index (AQI) was 114, indicating moderate air quality. (PTI)