Indian opposition figure is arrested

NEW DELHI — India’s anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal was arrested Thursday by a federal agency that accused his party and ministers of accepting $12 million in bribes from liquor contractors nearly two years ago, a top leader of his party said.

Atishi Singh, a leader of Kejriwal’s Aaam Admi Party, or Common People’s Party, denied the accusations and said they were fabricated by the federal agency, which is controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘s government.

Singh said her party will ask India’s Supreme Court to quash Kejriwal’s arrest and that he should be questioned, not arrested, as the investigation is still in progress in the case. He will continue to be Delhi’s chief minister while the party fights the accusations, she said.

Footage from local TV showed police whisking away Kejriwal’s supporters in buses as federal agents arrested him after questioning him for hours at his residence in New Delhi.

One of the charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is that 14 wholesale liquor distributors earned an “excess profit” of $41 million when the now-scrapped liquor policy was in operation two years ago.

The arrest came hours after Delhi’s High Court refused to grant any protection to Kejriwal, 55, over the summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate, a federal agency that probes economic offenses, in connection with the alleged scam.

The federal agency had called Kejriwal for questioning nine times in recent months, according to a government lawyer. But Kejriwal skipped the summons each time saying he was busy with his political work.

Kejriwal’s lawyer, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, told the court Thursday that the probe agency was being misused by the Modi government to weaken his party ahead of India’s national elections to be held in April-May.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has been defeated in Delhi state elections by Kejriwal’s party and also was defeated in northern Punjab state in 2022.