Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash. (Photo: PTI)

NEW DELHI: In a dramatic twist in the case of the alleged assault on Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash at the chief minister's residence, the CM's advisor, V K Jain , has told the police that he had witnessed two MLAs - Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal - hitting the CS.

Additional public prosecutor Atul Srivastava informed the metropolitan magistrate, Shefali Barnala Tandon, on Thursday that Jain's statement had been recorded before the police under Section 161 of CrPC and before a magisterial court under Section 164.

During the hearing, the prosecution filed a fresh application seeking police remand of the two MLAs opposing the bail plea. The court also heard arguments on the arrested MLAs' bail application. Following the arguments, the court reserved its order on both applications for Friday. Meanwhile, both MLAs were sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

Jain has stated that he started from his home around 11.30pm from Maharani Bagh on Monday and reached the CM's residence at midnight. According to the prosecutor, Jain said in his statement that he saw MLAs present at the CM's residence and had no prior knowledge of this.

"I got up from the meeting to go to the washroom. When I returned, I saw MLA Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal were hitting the chief secretary, asking him why he did not work. They pushed him and then held his chin in their hand asking him to work. Suddenly his glasses fell," says Jain's statement.

Jain had earlier recorded another statement before the police in which he had said that he had gone to the washroom and couldn't say what happened during the meeting. This statement had been submitted to the court on Wednesday but was brought up by the defence counsel, B S Joon, on Thursday. Jain had been asked whether the CS had been either ill-treated or manhandled in front of him and he had said he was not in the room.

"There is another statement of Jain which the police did not supply to the court," said Joon on Thursday, producing a copy of the document in court. "The prosecution is hiding Jain's earlier statement to the police," he said. The additional public prosecutor, however, retorted that the document had already been submitted before the court on Wednesday.

In this statement, Jain had said that on February 19, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had called him around 7.56pm, saying that a meeting had to be held with the CS. Around 9pm, he got a call from the the CS informing him that he would be come for the meeting. The CM called him around 11.21pm and asked him whether the CS was going to attend the meeting and Jain answered in the affirmative. The CS had arrived at 12.05am, says this statement.

According to this statement, Jain had said that the CS sat between MLAs Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal. Kejriwal informed the CS that the MLAs were going to apprise him about certain issues. The four-five MLAs began asking him about doorstep delivery of ration, advertisement fund release and slow proecessing of files.

He then went to the washroom, he had said, and when he returned, the CS was leaving and the CM told him the meeting was over and he too could leave. "I then left for my home," he had said.

