Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj detained as AAP protests against Kejriwal's arrest

Delhi Cabinet ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj were detained on Friday, 22 March as AAP leaders staged a protest against the BJP over the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate in the excise policy case.

The two ministers were lodged in a police bus as officials asked protesters at the ITO intersection, which is near the AAP and BJP offices, to disperse in view of prohibitory orders under section 144 imposed in the area.

The AAP supporters raised slogans against the BJP-led Centre government.

The police have erected barricades on the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg -- where the headquarters of both the parties are located -- and blocked it for traffic.

They have also raised a barricade on the road leading to the BJP office from the AAP headquarters, a stone's throw away from each other. They are also checking the ID cards of those entering the area.

Following Kejriwal's arrest Thursday evening, 21 March the AAP had given a nationwide call for protest against the BJP.

"If Kejriwal can be arrested, anyone can be arrested and their voice can be suppressed. From today, the fight has begun. Arvind Kejriwal is not a person, but an ideology," said Gopal Rai as he as he called for the protest.

The ED arrested Kejriwal in an excise policy-linked money-laundering case on Thursday evening, 21 March and took him to the agency's headquarters, officials said.

The arrest, the first of a sitting chief minister, came hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant protection to the AAP national convenor from any coercive action by the federal agency.