A day after he skipped the Enforcement Directorate summons, the federal agency is likely to arrest Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday, claimed Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj.
Taking to the social media platform X, AAP leader and Delhi's Law and PWD Minister Atishi, said, "News coming in that ED is going to raid@ArvindKejriwal's residence tomorrow morning. Arrest likely." She did not detail the source of the input.
Minutes later, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also posted on X, claiming speculations about Kejriwal's arrest by the ED. "It is heard that tomorrow morning, ED is going to reach the house of Chief Minister Kejriwal and arrest him," Bharadwaj said in his post.
Delhi | Security heightened outside the residence of Delhi CM & AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal
— ANI (@ANI) January 4, 2024
AAP Minister Atishi, in a post on social media X last night, claimed that they had information about the possible arrest of Arvind Kejriwal after a raid by the Enforcement Directorate at… pic.twitter.com/IlpkzbjOmy
In the wake of the speculations, security has been heightened outside the residence of Kejriwal in Delhi.
This comes as Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday decided to skip the ED summons. Kejriwal had written to the ED his decision, citing Rajya Sabha polls, Republic Day preparations and the probe agency's "non-disclosure and non-response approach" as reasons for not appearing before it.
In a letter addressed to the Enforcement Directorate, the AAP leader also said that he would be "happy to answer" any questionnaire sent by it. He asked the agency to respond to his earlier letters where he sought clarification on the "real intent, ambit, nature, sweep and scope of the purported inquiry/investigation for which I am being called".
However, the AAP had claimed that the summons itself was sent to arrest Kejriwal. This is the third summons sent to Kejriwal and the two previous summons were issued on November 2 and December 21, both of which he skipped.
The party has also alleged that the roads leading to Arvind Kejriwal's residence here were blocked and police personnel deployed at all gates. "The roads leading to the CM house have been shut and police personnel are deployed at all the entry/exit gates. Event the staff deployed at the CM house has been stopped from entering," an Aam Aadmi Party source said.
However, the Delhi Police said the security around the CM house was beefed up to "manage" mediapersons who have gathered there since Wednesday after party leaders claimed that Kejriwal would be raided and arrested. "No one from the CM staff has been stopped," another police officer said, terming the increase in the number of police personnel as "general deployment".
