BJP slams Kejriwal for running Delhi govt from jail
Kejriwal is currently in Tihar Jail under judicial custody. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case.
As Enforcement Directorate officials reached Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday claimed that the police is not allowing anyone to go inside and it seems the probe agency is planning to arrest him.
“The way police are inside the house of the CM and no one is allowed to enter it seems, the CM house has been raided. It seems, there is preparation to arrest the CM,” AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said.
Bharadwaj and several AAP leaders reached Kejriwal’s residence soon after the arrival of ED officials.
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Another AAP leader and minister Atishi said that it is a political conspiracy to arrest the Delhi CM.
“It is clear that the ED and their masters, the BJP, do not respect the courts. Had this been the case, they would not have come to raid the residence of Arvind Kejriwal today itself… This is a political conspiracy and they are here to arrest Arvind Kejriwal…,” she said.
Meanwhile, rapid action police force was deployed outside Kejriwal’s residence as several AAP workers staged a protest against the ED action.
According to sources, the ED sleuths carried a search warrant and a raid is currently underway. Kejriwal is also present at his residence.
The ED move came shortly after the Delhi High Court refused to grant interim protection to Kejriwal from arrest by the probe agency in connection with a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
A division bench of the high court comprising Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain said that they can’t pass any order at this stage.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for Kejriwal, told the court that the agency was “attempting a non level playing field” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, which will be held in seven phases from April 19.
He further said that the ED has not informed Kejriwal that in what capacity he is being summoned and claimed the agency want to arrest the AAP chief.
He said that the action of ED is due to elections and called it “vague, frivolous and motivated.”
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