In the liquor policy case, Arvind Kejriwal says in a document that a police officer named AK Singh maltreated him when he was taken to court.
New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that a Delhi police officer who had reportedly physically assaulted former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on the grounds of a city court had now misbehaved with him.
Arvind Kejriwal mentioned this in a request he made to the court in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue. He asked the court to remove the officer from his security team.
In a document, Mr. Kejriwal, who was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate in the liquor policy case, said that Assistant Commissioner of Police AK Singh treated him badly while he was being taken to court for his hearing regarding the remand application filed by the agency on Friday. The specific details of what happened are not yet clear.
The same officer, Mr. Singh, who is accused of holding Mr. Sisodia by the neck at the same court last year while reporters were questioning him, is involved in this incident. This was captured on video, and Sisodia had filed a written complaint about it. However, the Delhi Police denied any wrongdoing, stating that the action in the video was necessary for security reasons. They also mentioned that it’s against the law for any accused person to speak to the media.
The police also requested the court’s permission to have Mr. Sisodia appear only through video-conferencing. They argued that bringing him in person caused chaos with AAP supporters and reporters gathering in the court corridors.
While Mr. Sisodia was detained in February of last year in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case, Mr. Kejriwal was arrested on Thursday night by the Enforcement Department (ED), making him the first chief minister to be detained while in office. After the AAP leader appeared in court on Rouse Avenue, the agency was given a seven-day custody order.
The agency investigating financial crimes, which is looking into the money laundering aspect of the case, requested Mr. Kejriwal’s custody for 10 days. They stated that they needed to question him alongside the other accused.
The agency asserts that the chief minister was the “kingpin” and a major conspirator in the purported fraud and that he and the AAP had accepted bribes in return for favors.
The ED alleges that the total illegal earnings amount to ₹600 crore. They claim that under the Delhi liquor policy, wholesalers had a profit margin of 12%, while retailers enjoyed nearly 185%. Of this 12%, six was purportedly meant to be paid as kickbacks to AAP leaders. Additionally, an entity known as the South Group reportedly paid ₹100 crore in advance to Vijay Nair, another accused associated with the ruling party in Delhi.
