NEW DELHI: More than 1,000 security personnel will be stationed in and around the Central Bureau of Investigation headquarters located at Lodhi Road in south Delhi on Sunday with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal set to appear before the agency for deposition in connection with the agency’s ongoing probe into the Delhi excise policy case. A senior Delhi Police official said that adequate security arrangements were being made to ensure that no untoward incident took place. “There will also be companies of paramilitary forces. We will completely secure the area near the CBI headquarters,” he added.
According to the official, there would also be heavy police deployment outside the AAP office located at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg in New Delhi district. DCP (South) Chandan Chowdhary said Section 144 would be imposed in the area. It is expected that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann along with all Delhi Cabinet ministers would accompany Kejriwal till the CBI office.
Sensing that a large number of AAP volunteers may gather as a mark of protest, the police will place barricades on all the roads leading to the agency’s headquarters. This is the first time that the AAP supremo has been summoned in connection with the ‘scam’ whose terms were allegedly framed to benefit a group of liquor traders and cause losses to the exchequer.
AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the Centre was preparing to arrest Kejriwal. “Their aim is to finish our party. We are a new party and merely have government in two states. The prime minister is scared of Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP government is only misusing the central agencies like CBI and ED,” he alleged. Meanwhile, the BJP challenged Arvind Kejriwal to go through a lie-detector testing if he really does not have anything to do with the alleged scam. A couple of days ago, it had termed him as the ‘Natwarlal of Indian Politics’ after he was summoned by CBI.
Addressing a press conference, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia also slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader for attacking the Central government over the summons and said it was not the time for rhetoric but accountability. “If Arvind Kejriwal is not afraid of anything, then he should be taking a lie detector test. But he won’t go for it as he is corrupt,” he said.
He alleged that Kejriwal is the “kingpin” in the ‘liquor scam’ case in which the latter’s confidant Manish Sisodia is behind bars since being arrested on February 26.