New Delhi:

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Telangana lawmaker K Kavitha – opposition politicians arrested last month – weeks before the start of the Lok Sabha election – in the alleged liquor policy scam – have been sent to extended judicial custody for 14 days. The Aam Aadmi Party boss and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader – both in Delhi’s Tihar Jail – will be produced in court next on May 7.

The Delhi Chief Minister has a plea pending in the Supreme Court, in which he has challenged his arrest March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate on money laundering charges. The court heard the matter on April 15, but denied Mr Kejriwal immediate relief pending a reply from the federal agency.

Days earlier the Delhi High Court rejected the same plea, noting the ED had filed enough material to back its claim – that Mr Kejriwal was allegedly involved in forming the now-scrapped policy and demanding bribes of Rs 100 crore used to fund the AAP’s Punjab and Goa election campaigns.

In a related matter earlier today, Mr Kejriwal – a Type 2 diabetes patient – received his first shot of insulin in (reportedly) 32 days. The injection was administered after his blood sugar levels spiked to an alarmingly high 320 mg/dl. Mr Kejriwal had moved the court last week and this asking for insulin injections, but the plea had been opposed by the ED, which claimed the Chief Minister had deliberately eaten high sugar food items to elevate glucose levels and apply for medical bail.

On Monday a Delhi court directed a panel of specialists from the centre-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences to assess the Chief Minister’s condition and establish if insulin is, in fact, needed.

The AAP and Mr Kejriwal have denied all charges, and have counter-accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of “political vendetta” against a rival, and a member of the Congress-led INDIA opposition bloc, before the general election. The AAP and the opposition have repeatedly claimed federal investigation agencies – such as the Enforcement Directorate – target opposition leaders on instructions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The centre has denied this claim.

Ms Kavitha – the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao – will learn on May 2 the outcome of a bail plea in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court. Special Judge Kaveri Bawaja on Monday reserved her order. The plea is against Ms Kavitha’s arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which took her into custody while she was still in judicial custody in the ED’s case.

The case against the BRS leader is that she was part of the ‘South group’ – a cartel of businesspersons who paid an alleged Rs 600 crore in bribes to the AAP for allotment of liquor licences.

Ms Kavitha has also denied the charges and, like Mr Kejriwal, has questioned the timing of ED, CBI action against her, coming as it did weeks and days before the general election.

The ED has also arrested two other AAP leaders in this case – former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested in February last year and has been in jail since, and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who was arrested in October and received bail earlier this month.

While granting bail to Mr Singh, the Supreme Court observed investigating agencies had failed, so far, to recover any of the alleged bribe money. “Nothing has been recovered… there is no trace (of money allegedly received by AAP as bribes from the ‘South group’)…” the court remarked.

The same point has been made by the AAP and Ms Kavitha’s BRS colleagues.

New Delhi:

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal – a diabetes patient who has gone to court claiming Tihar Jail officials have withheld his supply of insulin for 31 days – has hit out at prison authorities, accusing them of making “false statements” and “lying under political pressure (from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party)”.

Sources said the Aam Aadmi Party leader – in jail since the Enforcement Directorate arrested him on March 21 in the alleged Delhi liquor scam case – wrote a note to Tihar Jail’s Superintendent after the prison arranged a video conference with doctors from the central government-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences. After the meeting jail officials claimed the supply of insulin had not been raised.

Jail officials also claimed the doctors “assured (Mr Kejriwal) there is no serious concern” and advised him to “continue with the prescribed medicines, which will be evaluated regularly”.

Mr Kejriwal, though, has a different take on the matter.

“I read the statement of Tihar administration in the newspaper… I felt sad after reading the statements. Both statements of Tihar Jail are false. I am asking for insulin daily… I showed the glucometer readings (three times a day) and told them sugar levels are high…”

According to Mr Kejriwal the sugar level readings are between 250 and 320 mg/dl. “Almost every day, I demanded insulin. Then how could you make such a statement that I never raised the issue of insulin?”

According to the World Health Organization, “expected values for normal fasting blood glucose concentration are between 70 and 100 mg/dL (or milligrams per decilitre)”. 

READ | Arvind Kejriwal In 14×8 Feet Cell. See What All Court Has Allowed

“AIIMS doctors never said there is nothing to worry about… they said they will respond after looking at the (medical) data and (patient) history,” the Chief Minister reportedly said.

“The Tihar administration is lying under political pressure…” he is understood to have told the jail chief, ramping up tension between himself and the centre – which he has accused of “political vendetta” – ahead of the Lok Sabha election in the national capital on May 25. 

The Aam Aadmi Party leader – in jail since the Enforcement Directorate arrested him on March 21 in the alleged Delhi liquor scam case – moved a court last week seeking directions for supply of the life-saving drug. Mr Kejriwal criticised the jail and probe agency for being “petty” and “politicising” his well-being.

READ | “Had Mangoes Only Thrice, Sweets 6 Times In Jail”: Arvind Kejriwal

The court – to which the ED claimed the Chief Minister deliberately ate foods high in sugar – like mangoes and toffees – to place his health at risk and prove grounds for medical bail – quizzed Mr Kejriwal about variations in his prescribed diet and reserved its verdict for today.

Why Was Arvind Kejriwal Arrested?

The probe agency believes the Chief Minister played a key role in drafting the now-scrapped policy and seeking bribes, or kickbacks, in return for liquor licences.

These kickbacks, the ED has claimed, amounted to around Rs 600 crore and some of this, the ED has said, was used to fund the party’s Punjab and Goa election campaigns, which won the AAP its first state government outside Delhi and confirmed its status as a national political party.

The AAP and Mr Kejriwal have refused all charges and called the arrest. The Chief Minister’s colleague, Atishi, has accused the centre of a “conspiracy to kill” Mr Kejriwal since it seems unable to defeat him in an election; the reference was to the past two Assembly polls.

READ | Kejriwal To Stay In Jail For Now, Supreme Court Refuses Early Hearing

Mr Kejriwal has challenged his arrest in the Supreme Court. However, the top court has refused an early hearing. He must now wait till April 29, when the court reconvenes to hear the ED’s reply.

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New Delhi:

Has Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal – a Type 2 diabetes patient – been denied insulin while behind bars in Tihar Jail? Did Mr Kejriwal eat mangoes and sweets, and did he drink tea with sugar instead of a non-calorific sweetener meant for diabetics? And how many times did he eat aloo-puri?

These are the questions at the heart of the latest row between the Aam Aadmi Party leader and the Enforcement Directorate, which had opposed his request for daily 15-minute video consults with his doctor; the ED claimed Mr Kejriwal had deliberately eaten foods high in sugar to create grounds for medical bail. The court resumed its hearing today and then reserved its verdict for Monday.

Arvind Kejriwal’s Insulin Request

In today’s hearing Mr Kejriwal – who sought directions to jail officials to ensure supply of insulin – hit out at the ED for being “petty” and “politicising” his diet in jail instead of ensuring his health.

“Just because I am a prisoner… do I have no right to a dignified life and good health? Am I a gangster that I cannot even be allowed 15 minutes of video conference with my doctor?” he asked in court.

“ED claimed I want to increase my blood sugar levels to get bail. Am I going to risk paralysis to get bail? Whatever food I have is as per the diet chart prepared by my doctor prior to arrest,” senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Mr Kejriwal, told the court at the hearing start.

In his submission Mr Kejriwal said he had been prescribed 50 units of insulin – 28 in the morning and 22 at night – since 2012, and that he had been “deprived of the life-saving drug for the last 29 days”.

“It is shocking that ED (believes) a person would deliberately cause such alarming hikes in sugar level and risk his life – for getting medical bail,” Mr Kejriwal argued in his submission, countering the ED’s rationale for the spike in his blood sugar level – that he has deliberately been eating sugary foods.

To this the ED replied: “Legal mulakaats (meetings) were abused earlier… there is a court order.”

“The real reason for the continuous spike is the refusal of jail authorities to give insulin to the applicant, which is a life-saving drug…” the Chief Minister’s submission argued.

Mr Kejriwal’s submission offered a detailed rebuttal to the ED’s claims, including providing the names of the insulin injections and underlining his doctor’s recommendations, as well as listing when he had been supplied with mangoes (as part of the home-cooked meals allowed by the court).

“The allegation is I have been consuming mangoes (but) out of 48 meals from home, only three had mangoes. No mangoes were sent after April 8,” Mr Kejriwal’s lawyer said, arguing the ED had made mangoes “look like sugar bullets”. “(In reality) their sugar level is less than brown or white rice.”

READ | After AAP’s “Plan To Kill” Claim, Kejriwal’s Court Plea For Insulin

On the ED’s claim that Mr Kejriwal regularly had white sugar in his tea, Mr Singhvi clarified the Chief Minister only used Sugar Free, a popular artificial sugar food item. Slamming the probe agency for being “ridiculous”, Mr Singhvi also accused it of misusing its “influence in the media”.

“Just because you have a lot of influence in the media you are able to publish – that I am having aloo-puri – even though this meal was sent only once – during Navratri,” he told the court.

READ | AAP Claims “Plan To Kill Kejriwal In Jail” In “Eating Mangoes” Row

The ED opposed these submissions, claiming the food Mr Kejriwal was eating did not match the prescribed diet chart. It also argued the jail had sufficient medical facilities to care for Mr Kejriwal.

“Please see the diet prescribed to him. It has no reference to any sweet or fruits or sweet items. It appears to be a very regulated and restricted diet… Therefore it has direct relation to his submission – that he has an alarming rise in sugar level,” the ED’s lawyer, Zuhaib Hossain, told the court.

The ED’s legal team also argued that the presence of mangoes in Mr Kejriwal’s diet were contrary to what was allowed by the Chief Minister’s doctor. They also referred a report by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, which said “food to be avoided are mangoes, bananas, chikoo, etc…”

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Mr Singhvi, however, emphasised that the fruit had been sent only thrice. The last time was April 8 and the first blood sugar reading after that was three days later. “What is the relation…” he asked.

“He was given mangoes three times and aloo-puri once…” he said, answering “No” in response to a question by the bench about variations in Mr Kejriwal’s diet from what was allowed by the court.

As the hearing wound down, Mr Kejriwal pointed out that his medical condition is “bad and Monday will be late”, to which the court said, “File your replies by tomorrow. I’ll reserve orders on Monday.”

Why Was Arvind Kejriwal Arrested?

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam in the national capital. The probe agency believes the Chief Minister played a key role in drafting the now-scrapped policy and seeking bribes, or kickbacks, in return for liquor licences.

The AAP and Mr Kejriwal have refused all charges and called the arrest and case “political vendetta”, coming as it did, weeks before the Lok Sabha election.

READ | Kejriwal To Stay In Jail For Now, Top Court Refuses Early Hearing

Mr Kejriwal has challenged his arrest in the Supreme Court. However, the top court has refused an early hearing. He must now wait till April 29, when the court reconvenes to hear the ED’s reply.

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