TOI

NEW DELHI: The investigations into the case of AAP MLA Sandeep Kumar’s sex CD have hit a dead end . The police are scrambling for leads and are clueless about their next move. Whether it is the result of shoddy investigations or the initial confusion before the case was handed over by the crime branch to the local police, sources in the department said there has been little progress in the case.Not only is the MLA expected to get bail once the police remand is over, at this stage it looks as if the case may not even result in conviction, two senior officers toldon Wednesday.According to these sources, the police have not only failed to recover the device which was used to record the video and pictures, they have also not been able to establish the time when the videos and pictures were taken. Such a recovery would have led the cops to establish this, and in its absence, the cops have a very weak case.While the victim has claimed the incident took place three months before she sold her house and that she sold the house around seven months ago, the calender in the video is that of 2010, another officer pointed out.Sources said the police faced embarrassment after they asked the duty magistrate for a staggering 14-day remand of the MLA a day after he surrendered and by invoking the Prevention of Corruption Act quite arbitrarily. The court not only rapped the police for invoking the act, it allowed only a day’s custody.The police have also not been able to establish who circulated the video. The interrogation of Sandeep and his secretary, Praveen , has not yielded anything as they have been blaming each other. On Tuesday, the cops leaked out another name, Mahipal, who may be behind circulation of the video.The house where the recording was supposedly made has been identified but it can’t be established in court that it was the scene of crime as the cops have little to back this claim of the victim or the alleged confession of the accused with. The latter is anyway not admissible as evidence in court. Mobile locations can’t be obtained and used as evidence in the case due to the lack of a specific time and date. Even the victim has not been able to provide that.To add to their embarrassment, the second victim has also not been traced yet. Sources said, she could also be a government employee, like Praveen, and the cops are going through Praveen’s call details to track her down. However, the road ahead for cops seems difficult. Sources said the police chief could soon transfer the case back to crime branch.Meanwhile, the police have written to TV channels, asking for the footage of the MLA and the woman.