Arvind Kejriwal is the first serving Chief Minister to be arrested in the country.
New Delhi:
Battlelines are drawn after the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged liquor policy scam, with his Aam Aadmi Party calling nationwide protests outside the BJP offices.
The Supreme Court is likely to take up today Mr Kejriwal’s petition against his arrest, a day after it denied an urgent hearing in his plea against the raids. The probe agency, meanwhile, will produce the Chief Minister in an ED court.
Mr Kejriwal’s arrest, just weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, has unleashed waves of protest by thousands of party workers and condemnation from the Opposition camp. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will also visit Mr Kejriwal’s family today, said sources,
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The AAP has said that Mr Kejriwal will continue to discharge his chief ministerial duties from jail – a prospect that may create a constitutional crisis, legal experts have said.
The Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating a money laundering angle in the alleged liquor policy scam, had called Mr Kejriwal a “conspirator”.
The probe team turned up at Mr Kejriwal’s home last evening with a search warrant after he skipped nine summonses by the central agency. Later in the day, the Delhi High Court refused to grant him protection from arrest.
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The agency arrested him around 9 pm after a search and questioning session and took him to the ED office. His and his wife’s phones were also confiscated and data was transferred from two tablets and a laptop at his home. Mr Kejriwal spent the night in an ED lock-up after a medical check-up from the RML hospital, sources said.
Delhi minister Atishi has called the arrest a “conspiracy by the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi” and said Mr Kejriwal will remain the Delhi Chief Minister. “We have said from the beginning that he will run the government from jail if need be. He has not been convicted… No law stops him from doing so,” she said in Hindi.
At a post-midnight press conference, AAP called a nationwide protest against the BJP on Friday. In Delhi, the protest will take place outside the BJP headquarters.
Mr Kejriwal’s arrest comes less than a week after BRS leader K Kavitha was taken into custody in the liquor policy case. Mr Kejriwal was named as a conspirator for the first time after Ms Kavitha’s arrest.