Image Source: News18
Arvind Kejriwal is a prominent Indian politician, best known for his role as the Chief Minister of Delhi. He is the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a political party that emerged from the anti-corruption movement in India. Kejriwal, a former civil servant, gained significant attention for his activism and anti-corruption efforts prior to entering politics.
AAP scored a remarkable victory in the 2015 Delhi elections, securing 67 out of 70 seats, with Kejriwal becoming the Chief Minister for the second time. The party’s governance in Delhi has been marked by initiatives such as improved education and healthcare facilities, subsidized electricity, and free water supply, among others.
Kejriwal’s political journey has been characterized by both praise and criticism. Supporters admire his efforts to tackle corruption and provide services to the common people, while critics accuse him of populist measures and being confrontational with the central government.
Both of them have been implicated in the same, now-revoked liquor policy case, which is currently under probe by CBI & ED.
Photo Credits: The Hindustan Times
Reportedly, Kejriwal was administered the insulin shot after a month when his sugar levels skyrocketed to an awfully high rate of 320 mg/dl.
Conversely, officials and Tihar jail authorities, in a report to Lieutenant Governer, asserted that Arvind Kejriwal had stopped taking insulin months before the arrest; as per the report, Kejriwal had explicitly stated that he had stopped taking it and after a medical assessment report from RML Hospital it found that he was not prescribed insulin in any form
Furthermore, it also denied his claims of rejection of insulin throughout the treatment process in Tihar. The report went as far as to claim that Kejriwal had been deliberately consuming sugar and cholesterol items like mangoes, bananas, and pickles, among other things.
Kavitha Kalvakuntla, the other accused in the case, was allegedly a member of the South Group, which has purportedly paid the Aam Aadmi Party a staggering 100 cr. as a quid pro quo for acquiring major liquor licences in the national capital, and the aforementioned amount is said to have been used to fund the Goa and Punjab’s election.
Image Source: Hindustan Times
Sanjay Singh, another MP from AAP, was arrested in October last year but was released on bail last month.
Arvind Kejriwal was apprehended earlier this month, which prompted nationwide outrage; the opposition emphasized the timing of the arrests, and AAP leader Sandeep Pathak called it “an undeclared emergency-like situation.”
Last month, Congress spokesperson Rahul Gandhi, in a tweet on X, termed it as an act of undermining democracy, further saying, “ While capturing all the institutions including the media, breaking up the parties, extorting money from companies, freezing the account of the main opposition party was not enough for the devilish power, now the arrest of the elected Chief ministers has also become a common thing.”
Delhi court first heard the issue on 15 April but rejected Kejriwal’s release as the investigative agencies had not given their side of the argument by then. The court has scheduled to re-hear the plea on 29 April.
This is not the first instance of a Chief Minister getting arrested, the inception of this year began with the arrest of CM Hemant Soren, similar to money laundering allegations about land scams. Soren, like Kejriwal, had forebode such an arrest.
