New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal late Thursday night in connection with a money laundering investigation related to the liquor policy case. Kejriwal was the first serving chief minister in India to be arrested in a criminal case. The ED action came hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) protection from arrest.
Arvind Kejriwal’s party, AAP, has announced that he will not resign as Delhi’s chief minister. While the Aam Aadmi Party has called for nationwide protests outside BJP offices, the party led by JP Nadda has demanded Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation.
With key leaders in jail, including Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and Sanjay Singh, the Aam Aadmi Party is experiencing a leadership crisis. Sunita Kejriwal, Kejriwal’s wife, and cabinet ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj may now lead the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Here are the top updates on Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest:
- The Delhi Police have increased city security by erecting multi-layered barricades on roads leading to the BJP headquarters. The action was taken after the Aam Aadmi Party announced a protest outside the BJP’s office in Delhi at 10 a.m. The traffic police have asked commuters to avoid routes leading to central Delhi in anticipation of a large crowd of AAP workers.
- The roads leading to the BJP’s headquarters and ED office in central Delhi have been closed. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has announced that the ITO Metro station will be closed today from 08:00 a.m. to 06:00 p.m., per police advice.
- After his arrest, Arvind Kejriwal was brought to the Enforcement Directorate’s office in central Delhi at 11.25 pm. He was seen sitting in the backseat of a sports utility vehicle.
- A 10-member Enforcement Directorate team, led by an additional director-level officer, conducted searches on Arvind Kejriwal’s Flagstaff Road in Delhi’s Civil Lines area. The Delhi Chief Minister was arrested two hours after the ED team arrived at his residence. Prior to arresting Arvind Kejriwal, officials questioned him.
- Arvind Kejriwal will be brought before a court today. The Enforcement Directorate will seek his arrest for questioning. The ED has made 16 arrests in the case, including Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, AAP leaders. Arvind Kejriwal ignored nine summonses issued by the agency for questioning.
- The BJP claimed Kejriwal reaped what he sowed and that the law had finally caught up with him after his long-running efforts to avoid it. “The arrest of Kejriwal represents the defeat of corruption, and he should resign immediately. “It is an insult to constitutional norms for Kejriwal party leaders to claim that Kejriwal will run the government from jail,” said Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva.
- According to Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, the agency searched every corner of Arvind Kejriwal’s house. He stated that the ED discovered only ₹70,000 from his home. He said Kejriwal’s phone had been seized. “The ED didn’t get any evidence, property documents, illegal money, or money trail,” he said.
- AAP leader Atishi said the party had petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest during a midnight hearing. However, reports indicate that no special bench was set up on Thursday night. “He (Kejriwal) will continue as Delhi’s chief minister. If necessary, he will lead the government from jail. “There is no rule preventing him from running the government from jail because he has not been convicted,” she told reporters.
- Gopal Rai, an AAP leader, called Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest a “murder of democracy”. He directed AAP workers to hold protests outside BJP offices. “I urge citizens to protest outside BJP offices across the country against this dictatorship. We will gather at the AAP office at 10 a.m. on Friday and protest outside the BJP headquarters,” Rai, a Delhi government minister, said.
- Meanwhile, Arvind Kejriwal’s INDIA bloc allies, the Congress and the NCP(SP), have rallied behind him. The Congress claimed that the BJP is terrified of the upcoming elections and is causing all sorts of problems for the opposition out of fear.
- Another AAP ally, NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar, said Kejriwal’s arrest demonstrates the lengths to which the BJP will go for power. “‘INDIA’ stands united against this unconstitutional action against Arvind Kejriwal,” Pawar wrote on the newspaper’s website.
- News Agency According to ANI, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi plans to meet with Arvind Kejriwal or his family on Friday to express his solidarity with the politician.