Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met with Arvind Kejriwal on Monday as the AAP chief remains in judicial custody. The two leaders remained separated by a glass wall as they interacted over a phone call in Tihar Jail. The senior politician told reporters after the meeting that Kejriwal was being denied amenities that are typically provided to even ‘hardcore criminals’. The developments came even as a Delhi court extended the Chief Minister's judicial custory till April 23 in the Delhi excise policy case.
“It was very painful to see that he (Arvind Kejriwal) is not even getting amenities that a hardcore criminal gets. What is his crime? That he constructed hospitals, schools and provided free electricity to the public? They are treating him as if he is a very big criminal,” Mann told reporters after the meeting.
The Punjab chief minister said he was asked by Kejriwal to visit different places and campaign for INDIA bloc candidates ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Mann was accompanied by Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak.
Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 and later remanded in judicial custody for two weeks. A Delhi Court extended his stay in Tihar jail on Monday in the money laundering case connected to the now-scrapped liquor policy. The AAP chief will now remain in judicial custody till April 23.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate by April 24 on Kejriwal's plea against arrest. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued notice to the ED on Kejriwal's plea challenging the Delhi High Court's April 9 order that had upheld his arrest in the case.
The Delhi CM had previously described his arrest ahead of the general elections as an "unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy" and urged the apex court to release him by declaring the case against him as "illegal".
(With inputs from agencies)
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