The Aam Aadmi Party has alleged that 80 per cent of its leaders were arrested by Delhi Police since Sunday, and questioned whether anyone can be detained for more than 24 hours.
The CBI on Sunday arrested Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with alleged corruption in the now-scrapped excise policy while police detained 50 people, including AAP MP Sanjay Singh and minister Gopal Rai, who were protesting near the CBI office where Sisodia was being questioned.
According to police, the leaders detained on Sunday were being released today.
Addressing a press conference, AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said the long detention was illegal and drew a parallel between former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s emergency era and the present.
“Since yesterday, the Aam Aadmi Party has been repeatedly saying that not only has Manish Sisodia ji been arrested, but almost 80 per cent of the leadership of the party has been arrested by the police. When asked, the central government is saying that they have only been detained,” he said.
“I want to know whether the detention is of one hour, two hours or three hours. Now it will be 24 hours, can police detain such big leaders for 24 hours? There is no such provision in the law,” he opined.
Noting that it is ‘illegal’ to detain someone for such a long duration, he said by now, the leaders should have been presented in the court.
“should have presented them in the court and told under which sections and for what reason you have arrested a Rajya Sabha MP? Delhi’s senior leader Gopal Rai has been detained. Adil Ahmed Khan who looks after the work of the organization has also been arrested. Dozens of MLAs and elected councilors have been arrested by the police since yesterday. They spent the whole night in the police station. The police hasn’t released them yet,” he said.
Bhardwaj said these are “signs of emergency” and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre is doing what former prime minister Indira Gandhi did when she imposed emergency in 1975.
“These are very dangerous signs. These are signs of emergency. You have put all the leaders behind bars without any reason and this is wrong. The central government should answer on what basis did it arrest our top leadership and put them behind bars,” he said.
Talking about Sisodia’s arrest, he wondered what new development had taken place that prompted the agency to arrest him.
Bhardwaj said that former LG Anil Baijal, who approved and notified the liquor policy, should also be questioned.
With inputs from News18
