Police in New Delhi detained numerous members of the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday as they protested the arrest of their leader on corruption charges just weeks before India’s general elections. Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, was arrested by India’s financial crime agency in connection with allegations of corruption related to the city’s liquor policy.
Kejriwal’s arrest, occurring shortly before India’s voting begins on April 19, is a blow to AAP and the broader opposition alliance of which he is a crucial figure. All major leaders of the ten-year-old party are currently incarcerated in connection with the liquor case.
AAP members, including certain ministers in the Delhi city government, were prevented by police from moving towards the city court where Kejriwal is expected to appear, and were taken away in buses as they chanted slogans.
Kejriwal’s legal team has filed a petition with the Supreme Court challenging his arrest, with the case scheduled to be heard later on Friday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing allegations that a liquor policy enacted by the Delhi government in 2022, which relinquished its control over liquor sales, unfairly benefited private retailers.
The policy was subsequently revoked, and the AAP government asserts that no evidence of wrongdoing has surfaced during the investigation.
AAP is a member of the ‘INDIA’ bloc consisting of 27 parties, which has dismissed corruption probes against various opposition leaders as a politically-motivated campaign by the BJP, the ruling party at the federal level that oversees the Enforcement Directorate.
The federal government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP party refute claims of political interference, emphasizing that law enforcement agencies are carrying out their duties without bias.
(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta and YP Rajesh; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
