 "Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj after being detained on Friday. ANI")
Following Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) nationwide call for protests against the BJP-led Centre over the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case, Cabinet ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj, who were leading a mega protest march at Delhi’s ITO on Friday, were detained along with other protesters for violating prohibitory orders.
The two ministers were pushed into a police bus as officials asked protesters to disperse in view of prohibitory orders under Section 144 imposed in the area.
After his detention, Bharadwaj, while speaking to reporters, claimed that Kejriwal’s family has been put under house arrest.
“…We will state before the Supreme Court that Arvind Kejriwal should be allowed to meet his lawyer and family and also allowed to carry out his official work. Kejriwal’s family has been put under house arrest,” said Bharadwaj.
As the AAP supporters raised slogans against the Centre, the police erected barricades on the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg - where the headquarters of both the parties are located - and blocked it for traffic.
They have also raised a barricade on the road leading to the BJP office from the AAP headquarters, a stone’s throw away from each other. They are also checking the ID cards of those entering the area.
The Supreme Court will take up Kejriwal’s petition against his arrest today, a day after it denied an urgent hearing in his plea against the raids at his house. The probe agency, meanwhile, will produce the Chief Minister in an ED court.
Kejriwal’s arrest, just weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, has unleashed waves of protest by thousands of party workers and condemnation from the Opposition camp. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is likely to visit Kejriwal’s family today, said sources.
With inputs from agencies