‘Will I risk paralysis to get bail?’: Arvind Kejriwal denies eating sugary foods in prison
The Enforcement Directorate alleged that the Delhi chief minister, a diabetic, was deliberately consuming sweets and mangoes to raise his blood sugar levels.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday told a city court that the Enforcement Directorate was politicising his diet in prison, The Hindu reported.
A day earlier, the central agency had alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party chief, a diabetic, was deliberately eating sweets and mangoes to raise his blood sugar, which he could then cite to seek bail. The Aam Aadmi Party, on the other hand, alleged a conspiracy to kill Kejriwal in jail by denying him insulin and other medicines for his diabetes.
On Friday, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, said that his client was following a diet chart prepared by his doctor before his arrest. “Am I going to risk paralysis to get bail?" the lawyer asked.
Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in the liquor policy case. He was sent to Delhi’s Tihar jail on April 1 and the court then permitted him to eat home-cooked food as per the diet prescribed to him by his doctors.
Singhvi on Friday said that mangoes were part of only three meals out of 48 sent to him in jail.
“Their [Enforcement Directorate’s] statements are completely false and malicious,” he told the court, according to The Hindu. “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 puja.”
The Enforcement Directorate, on the other hand, claimed that Kejriwal was not following his diet chart and that the Tihar Jail was equipped to provide him the food he needed. The Tihar Jail also filed a report before the court indicating that Kejriwal’s meals were not in accordance with his prescribed diet.
The chief minister on Thursday withdrew a petition demanding that he be allowed to consult his doctor thrice a week. On the next day, he filed a fresh application seeking access to insulin and daily 15-minute consultations with his doctor. The court will pass an order on the plea on April 22.
On Friday, Special Judge Kaveri Baweja told Kejriwal to submit a chart comparing his prescribed diet with the meals that he ate as per jail authorities, Bar and Bench reported. “It seems there definitely are deviations,” the judge remarked. “The deviations are there certainly.”
The Enforcement Directorate is investigating allegations of money laundering in the liquor policy case based on the first information report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The two central agencies have alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government modified Delhi’s now-scrapped liquor excise policy by increasing the commission of wholesalers from 5% to 12%. This allegedly facilitated the receipt of bribes from wholesalers who had a substantial market share and turnover.