NEW DELHI (AP) 鈥 A court in India on Monday placed a top opposition leader in two weeks of judicial detention after his 10 days in the custody of a federal agency expired, in a case that opposition parties say is part of a crackdown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi鈥檚 government on rivals ahead of a national election later this month.
Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man's Party, is the top elected official in the city of New Delhi and one of the country鈥檚 most consequential politicians of the past decade.
He by the federal Enforcement Directorate, India's main financial investigation agency, on March 21. The agency, controlled by Modi鈥檚 government, accused Kejriwal鈥檚 party and ministers of accepting 1 billion rupees ($12 million) in bribes from liquor contractors nearly two years ago. The arrest by hundreds of party activists supported by other opposition parties.
The Aam Aadmi Party denied the accusations and said Kejriwal will remain as New Delhi鈥檚 chief minister as it fights the case in court. The party is part of a broad , which is the main challenger to Modi鈥檚 governing Bharatiya Janata Party in the
A day after Kejriwal's arrest, the court remanded him to six days of custody by the Enforcement Directorate for investigation that was extended by another four days on Thursday. With the expiration of that detention on Monday, the New Delhi court ordered him held in judicial custody until April 15.
The directorate asked the court for Kejriwal's judicial custody, according to Bar and Bench, an online portal for Indian legal news. It cited S.V. Raju, a government attorney representing the directorate in court, as saying that Kejriwal's 鈥渃onduct has been totally non-cooperative鈥 and the directorate could seek his custody again for further investigation at a later stage.
It said it was the first time that a chief minister in India has been arrested while in office.
The Aam Aadmi Party鈥檚 legal counsel, Sanjeev Nasiar, told reporters that Kejriwal now has the right to apply for bail.
Kejriwal鈥檚 case has dominated the news in India ahead of the general election, Opposition parties say the government is misusing federal investigation agencies to harass and weaken its political opponents. They point to a series of raids, arrests and corruption investigations of key opposition figures. Recently, the opposition Congress party accused the government of crippling the party by in a tax dispute.
Modi's party denies using law enforcement agencies to target the opposition and says the agencies act independently.
Kejriwal鈥檚 arrest is seen as On Sunday, the bloc launched its election campaign with a at which opposition leaders criticized the arrest of Kejriwal and other colleagues.
The federal agency has accused Kejriwal of being the 鈥渒ingpin and key conspirator鈥 in the liquor bribery case. Kejriwal has denied the allegations and accused the directorate of 鈥渕anipulating investigative agencies for political motives.鈥
Kejriwal also has called his arrest 鈥渁 political conspiracy.鈥
Before his arrest, Kejriwal skipped nine summons issued to him by the directorate. His deputy, Manish Sisodia, and another party lawmaker, Sanjay Singh, were arrested in the same case in 2023 by the federal agency and are currently in judicial custody.
