With the Enforcement Directorate taking him into custody on Thursday, Arvind Kejriwal has become the first serving Chief Minister to be arrested. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief is the third senior leader from the party to be arrested in connection with the Delhi liquor policy scam, leaving question marks about the future of his party, which has insisted that he will continue to run the government from behind bars.
Kejriwal was taken into custody hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him protection from arrest in the liquor policy case. He has skipped nine summons issued by the ED, the last of which required his presence for questioning on Thursday.
When the same agency had arrested then Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in connection with the money laundering case linked to an alleged ₹ 600-crore land scam on January 31, the JMM leader had refused to sign the arrest memo until he tendered his resignation to the Governor.