The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday accused jailed Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal of deliberately consuming sweets, mangoes and tea with sugar in order to increase his sugar levels and seek bail on health grounds.
The submissions were made during a hearing on Kejriwal’s plea seeking regular check-ups of his sugar level and consultation with his doctor through video conference.
“Today, he (Kejriwal) is in court custody. He is in custody because of our case. The cause of concern is he was allowed prescribed home-cooked food because he claimed he has high diabetes. But he is having mangoes, sweets and sugar with tea. This is a basis to create a ground for bail,” Bar and Bench quoted ED counsel Zoheb Hossain as saying during his submissions before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja.
The ED counsel said his submissions were based on the information sought from Tihar jail authorities regarding Kejriwal’s medication and diet. Appearing for Kejriwal, advocate Vivek Jain dismissed the allegations levelled by the ED and accused the agency of doing so only to gain media attention.
Kejriwal’s counsel also said he was withdrawing his application and would file a better one. The court also sought a report on Kejriwal’s diet from Tihar jail authorities.
Kejriwal’s lawyers had earlier claimed before the Rouse Avenue court that the AAP national convener’s sugar levels had dropped to 46 following his arrest in connection with the Delhi excise policy case on March 21.
Kejriwal was produced before the court a day after his arrest and was remanded to ED custody till March 28. The remand was subsequently extended till April 1 when he was remanded to judicial custody till April 18.
The court had earlier denied Kejriwal permission to have five meetings with his legal team inside jail instead of two allowed to him.