Delhi CM and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal being produced before the Rouse Avenue Court in connection with a money laundering case related to the Delhi Excise policy, in New Delhi, on June 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
With Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal arrested by the CBI, his wife Sunita on June 26 alleged the whole system is trying to ensure that her husband does not come out of jail and that this is akin to “dictatorship” and “emergency”.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the BJP of getting Mr. Kejriwal arrested in a “fake case” by the CBI.
Follow highlights from Arvind Kejriwal’s bail plea hearing on June 26, 2024
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on June 26 formally arrested Mr. Kejriwal in the Delhi Excise policy case and sought five-day custody of the AAP national convener.
In a post on X in Hindi, Ms. Sunita said her husband got bail on June 20 in the Excise policy-linked money laundering case but the Enforcement Directorate (ED) immediately got a stay.
“The very next day, the CBI made him an accused. And today he was arrested. The whole system is trying to ensure that the man does not come out of jail. This is not law. This is dictatorship, this is emergency,” she said.
The AAP also condemned Mr. Kejriwal’s arrest.
“The dictator crossed all limits of cruelty!! Today when there was every possibility of Chief Minister @ArvindKejriwal getting bail, the BJP went into panic mode and got Kejriwal arrested by the CBI in a fake case.
“The CBI took Kejriwal ji to Rouse Avenue Court where his blood sugar level dropped very low. Dictator, no matter how much oppression you inflict, Kejriwal will neither bow down nor break,” it said in a post on X in Hindi.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said there cannot be a bigger emergency than this.
“Magunta Reddy, based on whose statement the CBI arrested Kejriwal, had said in his earlier statements said he had nothing to with Kejriwal. He gave his statement in January this year but the CBI came into action to arrest Kejriwal in June.
“The arrest was made after the trial court granted bail to Kejriwal and it had to get the Supreme Court’s stamp of approval. Then they remembered to arrest Kejriwal,” he told reporters outside the Rouse Avenue court.
“When the matter is pending before the Supreme Court, the CBI moved to arrest him in a false case. There can not be a bigger emergency than this,” he added.
The AAP MP said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP are playing a “dirty game” and the people of the country know what is going on.
“Kejriwal is a chief minister, he is not some terrorist or criminal. Four charge sheets were filed by the CBI but there was no mention of Kejriwal. When do they remember him? When he is about to be freed. The whole country knows what is happening,” Mr. Singh said.
“I want to tell the prime minister and the BJP that you have imposed an emergency. You can shoot us in public, the whole country is watching your dirty game,” he said.
Mr. Singh said some news channels were claiming that Mr. Kejriwal had put the entire blame on his former deputy Manish Sisodia.
“Our lawyers and Kejriwal opposed this in court. The judge read Kejriwal’s statement and accepted that he did not say anything like this,” he added.
At a press conference, senior AAP leader Jasmine Shah alleged efforts were being made to tarnish the image of the party.
“Since the beginning, we have been saying that the ED and the CBI are being used to create sensationalism in media and tarnish the image of the AAP, Kejriwal and other leaders,” he said.
On the Delhi court reserving its order on the CBI plea seeking Mr. Kejriwal’s custody, Mr. Shah said, “Whatever order comes, we are waiting for it. The whole case is fake.”
Mr. Kejriwal has been in prison since April 1 in connection with the excise policy-linked money laundering case being probed by the ED.
On May 10, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Mr. Kejriwal for 21 days to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. He returned to prison on June 2.
The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 was withdrawn by the Kejriwal government in July 2022 after Lieutenant Governor V. K. Saxena recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its formulation and implementation.
