NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's creaky blue Wagon R, which was stolen from outside the Delhi Secretariat two days ago, has been found abandoned in Ghaziabad, the police said today.
The humble hatchback, Kejriwal drove around in his early political career and which helped cement his position as the "aam aadmi", was being used by an AAP functionary before it was stolen.
The Delhi Police said their counterparts in Ghaziabad got in touch with them regarding the car.
“We got an information around 8 am from Ghaziabad control room that a blue color WagonR car has been recovered by the police. During the check it was found that it is the same car which was stolen from Delhi secretariat on 12th October,” Delhi Police PRO Madhur Verma said.
Unable to identify the accused who took off Delhi Chief Minister’s car, Delhi police on Saturday blamed car driver and owner for parking the car at a wrong place and not installing security equipment making the car an easy target for miscreants. "The car was parked almost 200 meters away from gate number six, which is manned by Delhi Police staff. The car was parked at a place where no security staff was available,” Madhur Verma said.
Cops have also recovered a sword also from the car but it is uncertain who put it inside the car.
Delhi police is trying to find who had stolen the car and are suspecting that someone committed the crime for a joyride.
Kejriwal had yesterday written a letter to Lt Governor Anil Baijal, saying the theft points towards the rapidly "deteriorating" law and order situation in the national capital.
The incident had outraged AAP workers, many of whom posted videos of Kejriwal using the car, especially on Republic Day in 2014, after he became the chief minister of Delhi for the first time.
The car was witness to two assembly election wins in 2013 and 2015 and also to the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
It was "donated" to Kejriwal by Kundan Sharma, a software engineer, in January 2013. However, when Kejriwal parted ways with his then party colleagues Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, Sharma demanded that the vehicle be returned.
Even after Kejriwal became the chief minister in December 2013, he refused to use an official car and preferred his old Wagon R.
(with inputs from ENS)