Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal surrendered at Tihar jail after his interim bail granted by the Supreme Court in a money laundering case linked to the excise policy scam ended on Sunday.
The top court had granted bail to the Aam Aadmi Party supremo on May 10 to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.
After his surrendering at Tihar jail, Kejriwal was produced before a Delhi court which sent him to judicial custody till June 5. Duty judge Sanjeev Aggarwal passed the order passed the order on an application filed by the Enforcement Directorate, seeking extension of judicial custody by 14 days.
Before returning to jail, Kejriwal paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at the Raj Ghat, offered prayers at the Hanuman temple in Connaught Place and addressed the AAP leaders and workers at the party office.
"I was given a 21-day (relief) by the Supreme Court. These 21 days were unforgettable. I did not waste even a minute. I campaigned for saving the country. The AAP is not important, it is secondary. The country comes first," he said.
"I am going back to jail not because I was involved in corruption but because I raised voice against dictatorship," said the chief minister insinuating that the Narendra Modi government was allegedly misusing the central agencies to target its political opponents.
Kejriwal also dismissed the exit polls as “fake” and said they were mind games to guide one into depression.
Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal, AAP leaders, including Atishi, Kailash Gahlot and Saurabh Bharadwaj, Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Singh and Sandeep Pathak, and party leaders Durgesh Pathak, Rakhi Birla and Reena Gupta accompanied him to Tihar jail.
"We want to thank the Supreme Court for granting Arvind Kejriwal a bail for 21 days. In these 21 days, he campaigned for several parties of the INDIA alliance because this election was not just for one party. This election was to protect the Constitution of the country. We respect the judiciary, so Arvind Kejriwal has surrendered on the scheduled date," Atishi told the media.
