NEW DELHI: As many as 52 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs, who were detained along with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia en-route Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official 7, Race Course Road (RCR) here, have been released by the Delhi Police.
Sisodia earlier today accused the ruling dispensation at the Centre of interfering in the AAP Government’s good work and offered to surrender before Prime Minister Modi.
“We want to tell the Prime Minister that don’t stop the work in Delhi. Why are you taking revenge on Delhi? You have enmity with me so arrest me. All the MLAs are going there,” he said.
Asserting that no one is above the law, the Delhi Police earlier today said they take strong action against anybody violating the law, adding that the AAP leaders would be released only under assurance that they would not again march towards the Prime Minister’s residence in protest.
“52 MLAs have been detained. We will see the situation and take the decision accordingly. Whenever any such kind of thing happens or somebody wants to violate the law, we take decision accordingly. There are chances that they may go again,” Joint Commissioner of Police M.K. Meena told the media here.
Meena stated that they have some information that the AAP MLAs might again try to go to 7, RCR and so they have been kept under detention.
“They have been kept in the Parliament Street Police Station after detention as information is coming in that they can again go to 7, RCR. Unless and until we will be satisfied that they won’t go there, they will be kept under detention. The further course of action will take place according to the law,” he added.
Taking cognizance of the situation, Joint Commissioner (Crime) Taj Hasan said that they had received a complaint from Surender Goswami, the chief of Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association, but there was no cognizable offence in that and so no legal probe was warranted.
“The complaint against Dinesh Mohaniya was a clear cognizable offence. That’s why we had filed an FIR in that regard. We arrested him because in spite of repeated request, he was not joining the investigation. We do legal scrutiny of all the complaints,” he added.
Hasan stated that as there was no base of the complaint, there was no question of any legal action against Sisodia.
In his latest outburst against Prime Minister Modi following the arrest of Sangam Vihar MLA Dinesh Mohaniya a day earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier tweeted, “Complaint filed against Manish Sisodia yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR today to surrender himself before PM.”
Minutes after his detention, Sisodia too took on the Prime Minister.
“Modi ji, you have got us arrested and keeping us in Parliament (Street) police station. We are ready to go to Tihar but don’t stop us from working for people of Delhi,” he tweeted.
Mohaniya was arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly misbehaving with a group of women, who had gone to him to complain about a water crisis.
Mohaniya, who is also the vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board, was picked up by a police team while he was addressing a press conference yesterday at his office in Khanpur.
A Delhi Court yesterday rejected his bail petition and sent him to judicial custody till Monday.