The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday arrested in an excise policy-linked money laundering case.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday arrested in an excise policy-linked money laundering case. This comes hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant protection to the AAP national convenor from any coercive action by the agency. Soon after the arrest, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a scathing attack against the Delhi CM and said that the people of the national capital voted Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for better schools but they opted to open liquor shops.
Talking to news agency ANI, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said, “The people of Delhi had voted you into power to make better ‘paathshala’ but you opened a ‘madhushala’. When action is being taken against this corruption with the nod of the court, when you skipped 9 summons of the ED, you still play the victim card. The SC has traced a money trail of Rs 338 crore.”
“Walking in the footsteps of Lalu Prasad Yadav, he did not cooperate with the investigation and now talks about running the government from jail,” he added.
#WATCH | Delhi CM and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Excise policy case.
BJP leader Shehzad Poonwalla says, “… The people of Delhi had voted you into power to make better ‘paathshala’ but you opened a ‘madhushala’.… pic.twitter.com/FTgKtE5kxK
— ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2024
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in an excise policy-linked money laundering case on Thursday night and took him to the agency’s headquarters here, officials said.
The arrest, the first of a sitting chief minister, came hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant protection to the AAP national convenor from any coercive action by the agency.
The 55-year-old leader’s arrest, amid campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, drew angry reactions from his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The party said Kejriwal “will continue as the chief minister of Delhi. If need be, he will run the government from jail.”
The BJP though demanded that Kejriwal step down as chief minister on moral grounds.
In a day of fast-paced developments, a 10-member ED team led by an additional director reached his official residence on Flagstaff Road in Civil Lines in the national capital soon after the high court order and carried out searches. He was arrested more than two hours after the ED team arrived at his residence, officials said.