Judge says Arvind Kejriwal can be held until next Thursday, as his party’s leaders condemn accusations as politically motivated
An Indian court has ruled that Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, will be kept in custody for six days after his dramatic arrest on corruption charges.
Kejriwal, the top elected official for the Indian capital, was taken in by police on Thursday night as part of an investigation into an alleged scam involving kickbacks for alcohol licensing deals.
It was the first time a sitting chief minister has been arrested. Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi party (AAP) came to power in the city in 2015 on the back of an anti-corruption movement, and had repeatedly come into the crosshairs of the national government, which has increasingly shown itself intolerant of dissent.
Senior AAP leaders condemned the charges against Kejriwal as fabricated and politically motivated, accusing the government of targeting the opposition parties before the national election beginning on 19 April.
The AAP is part of a coalition of 27 parties who have united to fight against the prime minster, Narendra Modi, and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government in the election under the acronym INDIA.
