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Delhi Ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj were detained on Friday as AAP leaders staged a protest against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s ED arrest in excise policy-linked money laundering case.
The AAP protesters were lodged in a police bus as officials asked protesters at the ITO intersection to disperse in view of prohibitory orders under section 144 imposed in the area. They raised slogans against the BJP-led Central government.
Police officials have erected barricades on the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, where the BJP and AAP headquarters are located, and blocked it for traffic. They also raised a barricade on the road leading to the BJP office and checked the ID cards of those entering the area.
After the police action, Atishi said the peaceful protesters were also being arrested and called it a “murder of democracy”.
“I have been detained by Delhi Police while peacefully protesting at ITO. First these people arrest the Chief Minister of Delhi in a false case, then the peaceful protesters are also being arrested. If this is not murder of democracy then what is it?,” Atishi wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Also Read | Live updates on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an excise policy case on March 21. The federal agency began conducting searches at Kejriwal’s residence on Civil Lines. The AAP supremo had till now skipped nearly nine ED summons issued to him in the money laundering case.
DMK leader also staged a protest in Chennai over Kejriwal’s arrest on Friday morning. “We condemn the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal,” said DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran.
The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are in judicial custody in the case.
Kejriwal’s name has been mentioned multiple times in the charge sheets filed by the ED. The agency has alleged that the accused were in touch with Kejriwal for formulating the excise policy that resulted in undue benefits to them in return for which they paid kickbacks to the AAP.
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Published: 22 Mar 2024, 12:00 PM IST
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