AAP Urges Citywide Protest Against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s Arrest

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has declared its intention to conduct a candlelight procession and symbolic effigy burning throughout Delhi on Sunday to express dissent against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) concerning the detention of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

In a statement released on Saturday, the AAP asserted, “Tomorrow, there will be a candlelight march and symbolic effigy burning across Delhi in condemnation of the BJP’s authoritarianism and the unjustified arrest of Arvind Kejriwal. The people of Delhi have taken to the streets to voice their opposition to CM Arvind Kejriwal’s detention. We must all unite as a shield for Arvind Kejriwal. The arrest of Arvind Kejriwal will mark the downfall of the Modi government.”

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was apprehended on March 21 by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in relation to the now-nullified excise policy case. Kejriwal’s legal team has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, contesting his arrest and the remand order issued by the trial court on March 22. The plea contends that both the arrest and the remand order are ‘unlawful’, demanding his immediate release from custody. An urgent hearing has been requested from the Acting Chief Justice, preferably on Sunday, March 24.

The ED, granted custody of Delhi CM until March 28 by the court, alleges that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is the primary beneficiary of the proceeds of crime generated in the purported liquor scam. On Friday, the Rouse Avenue Court extended Kejriwal’s remand to six days in connection with the money laundering case linked to the alleged liquor policy scam, until March 28. This decision was made by Special CBI judge Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue Courts following Kejriwal’s arrest by the central probe agency.

Kejriwal’s detention by the central agency late Thursday night on charges of corruption related to the Delhi excise policy case marks the first instance in independent India of a sitting Chief Minister facing arrest. This action followed Kejriwal’s repeated avoidance of multiple summons by the investigation agency, totaling nine, which he deemed “unlawful”.

The case revolves around alleged irregularities and money laundering in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2022, subsequently annulled. Although Kejriwal’s name was not initially mentioned in the FIRs filed by the ED or the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Delhi excise policy case, it surfaced in the ED’s chargesheet, wherein the agency alleged that he engaged in a video call with one of the primary suspects, Sameer Mahendru, instructing him to continue collaborating with co-accused and AAP communications-in-charge Vijay Nair.

Nair was among the initial individuals arrested by the CBI in 2022. Following this, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh were also arrested in connection to the case.