New Delhi: Hours after Delhi High Court dismissed Arvind Kejriwal’s plea seeking to restrain Enforcement Directorate (ED) from taking coercive action against him in the Delhi liquor policy case, ED arrested the Delhi chief minister on Thursday night.
Kejriwal is the second sitting chief minister to be arrested in two months, after Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren.
Confirming the news, Delhi minister Atishi told newspersons that Kejriwal will remain CM of Delhi despite his arrest and that Aam Aadmi Party has moved Supreme Court against ED’s action.
“We have received news that ED has arrested Arvind Kejriwal… We have always said that Arvind Kejriwal will run the govt from jail. He will remain the CM of Delhi. We have filed a case in the Supreme Court. Our lawyers are reaching SC. We will demand SC have an urgent hearing tonight,” Atishi said.
Watch the video posted by ANI:
#WATCH | AAP leader Atishi says, “We have received news that ED has arrested Arvind Kejriwal… We have always said that Arvind Kejriwal will run the govt from jail. He will remain the CM of Delhi. We have filed a case in the Supreme Court. Our lawyers are reaching SC. We will… pic.twitter.com/XWQJ1D6ziR
— ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2024
A team of eight ED officials reached the chief minister’s residence a couple of hours after the high court refused to grant him relief against coercive action in the Delhi liquor policy case.
ED officials reportedly had a search warrant and was conducting a raid at his residence.
Kejriwal and his family members were at home when the ED team turned up.
There was a heavy deployment of Delhi Police personnel in the area, with the entire are being barricaded. AAP leaders and journalists were not allowed to go in the vicinity.
With minutes of ED team reaching Kejriwal’s house, hundreds and thousands of AAP supporters were mobilised, and they shouted slogans against BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Police stopped them at a distance, and detained those who wanted to break barricades.
Kejriwal, having skipped nine summonses by ED, calling them ‘illegal’, had moved the Delhi HC seeking relief.
