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Arvind Kejriwal withdraws Supreme Court plea; AAP claims his family under ‘house arrest’
The BJP, meanwhile, claimed Arvind Kejriwal and AAP are playing the victim card.
New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has withdrawn from the Supreme Court a petition against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the AAP chief, told the court that he would rather argue against the arrest before the remand judge in the trial court.
A special Supreme Court bench, headed by justice Sanjiv Khanna, had agreed to hear his petition against his arrest in connection with a money-laundering probe linked to the Delhi liquor policy scam case.
AAP claims Arvind Kejriwal's family in house arrest
Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi's minister Gopal Rai on Friday morning claimed that Arvind Kejriwal's family had been put under "house arrest". The politician claimed the authorities stopped him from visiting the family, hours after the Delhi chief minister's arrest.
"I have come here to meet his family but they have been put under house arrest. Under which law am I being stopped from meeting his family?" Rai told reporters.
AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj also claimed that the Centre was not allowing anyone to meet Kejriwal's family.
"Arrests have been done in politics in the past. However, the minimum human values, that even the Britishers used to consider, are not being followed. The Central government has not allowed anyone to meet Arvind Kejriwal's family since yesterday," he said.
AAP leader Atishi claimed that Arvind Kejriwal was arrested because of the BJP's political conspiracy.
"It is the first time that a sitting CM has been arrested by the central government. Even the Jharkhand Chief Minister resigned before his arrest. In the country's history, it is the first time that, after the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections, the national convenor of a national party has been arrested. Arvind Kejriwal's arrest is the BJP's political conspiracy," Atishi said.
She also said that she was worried about the security of Kejriwal, who has the Z-plus cover.
BJP slams Arvind Kejriwal, AAP
The BJP, meanwhile, claimed Kejriwal and AAP were playing the victim card.
"AAP leaders are saying that Arvind Kejriwal is not a human, but an ideology... The ideology is that he will be corrupt and when the court takes action, he will call it an atrocity... And play the victim card... I want to ask them, is the court ending democracy?... The SC rejected Manish Sisodia's bail. The SC said that there is a money trail of Rs. 338 crore. Sanjay Singh's bail was rejected by the HC. If your teammates have been in jail for more than a year now, has the BJP done it or the Courts have done it?.. Your BFF Congress found you drowned in the Liquor scam," said BJP leader Shehzad Poonwalla.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has said that Kejriwal will not resign as the chief minister of Delhi and will run the government from jail. Reacting to the announcement, union minister Anurag Thakur said it is an insult to the people of the city.
"They are saying that Arvind Kejriwal will run the government from jail. This is an insult to the people of Delhi, law and democracy... It is unfortunate that a political party that spoke about the corruption of the Congress, and demanded the arrest of Sonia Gandhi, has refused to appear before the ED even after 9 summons. Why did I have to remain away from the investigation... All of them are exposed in this liquor scam," he said.
With inputs from PTI, ANI
