ED arrests Delhi CM Kejriwal
Vinay Kumar &
Naresh Biswani
NEW DELHI: In a dramatic and rapidly moving string of developments just weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after the probe agency questioned him at his residence for nearly three hours on Thursday evening in the alleged liquor policy case.
Kejriwal who is also the convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has become the first sitting chief minister to be arrested in the country. Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31 but minutes before his arrest he had tendered his resignation to the Governor and made way for Champai Soren to take up the leadership.
It was learned that the same Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials who arrested BRS leader K Kavitha in Telangana were also leading the arrest of the Delhi CM. There was a 12-member team of investigating officials. Reportedly, Kejriwal was initially taken to the ED office before the arrest was carried out. His residence witnessed heavy deployment of police personnel and AAP leaders and ministers who had gathered outside were denied entry.
Describing it as a political conspiracy, AAP said Kejriwal “will continue as the chief minister of Delhi. If need be, he will run the government from jail.”
The BJP though demanded that Kejriwal step down as chief minister on moral grounds.
A medical test (MLC) of Kejriwal was conducted by a team of doctors of Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital after the arrest. Kejriwal will be presented before the special PMLA court on Friday, where the Enforcement Directorate will request his custody for questioning. Besides, Kejriwal’s lawyers sought an urgent hearing on Thursday. Delhi minister Atishi confirmed to the media persons: “We have moved the Supreme Court for the quashing the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, by ED. We have asked for an urgent hearing by the Supreme Court tonight (Thursday) itself.”
Later, however, it was reported that no special Supreme Court bench was being set up on Thursday night to hear Kejriwal’s plea against his arrest.
Sources said the plea was likely to be heard on Friday.
Kejriwal had skipped nine summonses issued by the agency for questioning in the case, the latest being for Thursday, March 21. He has called these summonses “illegal”.
As the ED officials carried out their action inside, additional Delhi Police personnel and Rapid Action Force (RAF) and CRPF teams were deployed around the chief minister’s residence.
The additional deployment was made as the ED sought extra security measures in anticipation of protests by AAP supporters, sources said.
A large number of AAP workers and leaders gathered near the chief minister’s residence and shouted slogans hailing Kejriwal and denouncing the ED action.
The Delhi Police also stepped up security around the agency office on A P J Abdul Kalam Road in central Delhi.
This was the 16th arrest in the case by the ED. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was arrested by the ED in the same case last February and later AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was also arrested. Both of them are under judicial custody and lodged in Central Jail. Another AAP leader and minister Satyender Jain is also lodged in Tihar jail.
Kejriwal’s arrest came within days of another big ticket arrest of BRS leader K Kavitha by the ED in the alleged liquor policy scam case. She is currently under the custody of the ED.
Speaking from outside the chief minister’s residence, Delhi minister Atishi said that Kejriwal’s arrest is a “conspiracy by the BJP and PM Narendra Modi since the investigation of this case began two years ago, not one rupee has been recovered by the ED or the CBI despite over 1,000 raids on AAP leaders and ministers.’’
Delhi CM’s arrest also comes within weeks of his party entering into a seat sharing deal with the Congress as part of a key constituent of the Opposition INDIA alliance in Gujarat and Delhi for the coming Lok Sabha polls as AAP sees itself as a potential challenger to the ruling BJP.
Kejriwal’s name has been mentioned multiple times in the chargesheets filed by the ED. The agency has alleged that the accused were in touch with Kejriwal for formulating the excise policy that resulted in undue benefits to them in return for which they paid kickbacks to the AAP.
The ED had recently alleged in a statement that BRS leader Kavitha and some others “conspired” with top AAP leaders like Kejriwal and Sisodia to get favours in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy by paying Rs 100 crore to the political party that rules Delhi.
Kejriwal, 55, became Delhi Chief Minister for the first time in 2013 as he was spearheading the anti-corruption movement. An IIT graduate, he had joined the Indian Revenue Service and resigned as joint commissioner of Income Tax in 2006. With his arrest, AAP is sure to suffer a major setback in its campaigning for the coming Lok Sabha elections. Incidentally, all the political figures who have been arrested over the past few months belong to Opposition parties.
