Indian opposition leader Kejriwal gets further detention in graft case

NEW DELHI - An Indian court on April 1 renewed detention for key opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal until April 15 in a graft case, his lawyers said, less than three weeks before

voting begins in a general election

.

In a move that sparked protests in March, India’s financial crime-fighting agency arrested Mr Kejriwal, Delhi’s Chief Minister, over

graft accusations related to the city’s liquor policy,

and he was remanded to custody until April 1.

Opposition parties say the arrest, along with government action against other opposition groups and their leaders, shows the government is denying them a level playing field in the election, charges it denies.

Mr Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) says he has been “falsely arrested” in a “fabricated” case, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deny political interference.

Lawyers for the agency, the Enforcement Directorate, said on April 1 that Mr Kejriwal had been “non-cooperative” and gave evasive replies, asking the court to hold him in custody for 15 more days, news website Live Law reported.

“These people have only one aim, they want to put him in prison during the elections,” Mr Kejriwal’s wife Sunita told reporters, referring to Mr Modi’s government. “The people will give a response to this dictatorship.”

BJP spokesman Sudhanshu Trivedi said the court’s decision, based on concrete evidence, raised moral and constitutional questions.

The arrest of the high-profile leader set off protests in the Indian capital and the northern state of Punjab, ruled by his party.

The court’s decision comes a day after a New Delhi rally by the India bloc, an alliance of 27 opposition parties including AAP, to protest against Mr Kejriwal’s arrest, where they accused Mr Modi of seeking to rig the election.

Regional groups are among the opposition parties also facing action by federal agencies, which they have called politically motivated.

The main opposition Congress party has been hit with large income tax demands that it described as a bid to cripple it financially before the election, an accusation the BJP has denied.

On April 1, in a breather for Congress, the tax authorities told the Supreme Court they would not pursue a demand for a tax payment of 35 billion rupees (S$566 million) until after the polls.

The party has gone to court to challenge the tax demand, which is in addition to 1.35 billion rupees it has already paid. REUTERS