AAP workers protesting in support of Kejriwal detained at Delhi's Kashmiri Gate

The AAP workers raised slogans in support of the Delhi chief minister. There has been a heavy deployment of forces in the national capital in view of AAP's protest.

New Delhi: Delhi Police detained Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers protesting at Kashmiri Gate on Sunday in support of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal before he is to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Delhi excise policy. The AAP workers raised slogans in support of the Delhi chief minister. There has been a heavy deployment of forces in the national capital in view of AAP's protest.

CM Kejriwal held a high-level meeting with top leaders of the AAP on Sunday ahead of appearing before the central agency in the Delhi excise policy case. The meeting was held at Kejriwal's residence. Several Delhi ministers, including Atishi, Kailash Gahlot, Rajkumar Anand, Gopal Rai and Imran Hussain, were present in the meeting.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Maan and Punjab Assembly speaker Sardar Kultar Singh Sandhwan also attended the meeting. AAP MPs Raghav Chadha, ND Gupta and Delhi Legislative Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel were also present at the meeting in Kejriwal's residence. According to sources, the meeting was called to discuss the next course of action after Kejriwal's questioning by CBI on Sunday. Kejriwal on Sunday said that the central agency will arrest him if the BJP government has given the orders.

In a video message released on Sunday morning, Kejriwal said, "They (CBI) have called me today and I will definitely go. They are very powerful, they can send anyone to jail. If BJP has ordered CBI to arrest me, then CBI will obviously follow their instructions." He further said, "You (BJP) say that I am corrupt. I was a Commissioner in the Income Tax department, I could have earned crores if I wanted to. If Arvind Kejriwal is corrupt then there is no one in this world who is honest."

Kejriwal will appear before the CBI on Sunday for questioning in connection with the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Union Territory government. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann would accompany Kejriwal to the CBI office on Sunday morning. During his visit to the CBI office, Kejriwal's cabinet colleagues and all the MPs of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will also accompany him to the CBI office.

In a major development in the Delhi excise policy case, the CBI summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in connection with the liquor policy case on Sunday. According to sources, Aam Aadmi Party will stage a protest in the national capital during the questioning of party chief Kejriwal at the CBI office on Sunday.

"If Arvind Kejriwal is corrupt then there is no one in this world who is honest," Delhi Chief Minister said on Saturday, a day after CBI summoned him for questioning in connection with the excise policy case. Addressing a press conference, he said, "Tomorrow, they (CBI) have called me and I will definitely go. If Arvind Kejriwal is corrupt then there is no one in this world who is honest... If BJP has ordered CBI to arrest me, then CBI will obviously follow their instructions."

Later, taking to Twitter, Kejriwal said appropriate cases will be filed against Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate officials for "perjury and producing false evidence in courts. "We will file appropriate cases against CBI and ED officials for perjury and producing false evidence in courts," he tweeted. Kejriwal also claimed that he knew he would be next in line to be summoned by the CBI since the day he spoke against corruption in the Delhi assembly.

Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, a key aide of Kejriwal, is in jail over alleged irregularities in the excise case. Sisodia was arrested by ED and CBI in the ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy in Delhi. The CBI arrested Sisodia on February 26. Later on March 9, the ED arrested him, after hours of questioning at Tihar Jail.

The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval. The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their account books to evade detection, the probe agencies said. (ANI)