Drama Outside Arvind Kejriwal's Home As Cops Arrive To Serve Notice Over 'MLA Poaching' Remark: WATCH

A team led by Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Pankaj Arora insisted on delivering the notice exclusively to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, stating it was in his name.

High drama ensued outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday when a Delhi Police team led by ACP of Crime Branch Pankaj Arora arrived to serve a notice to the Aam Aadmi Party national convenor. According to Delhi CMO sources, the notice pertained to Kejriwal's allegation against BJP that the saffron party was trying to "poach AAP MLAs".

As the police team came to serve the notice, Arora insisted on delivering the notice only to Kejriwal as it was in his name. However, officials at the CM's residence said they would accept the notice and provide a receipt to the crime branch officials. This led to a confrontation between AAP members and the police. 

According to PTI, sources within the AAP alleged that the police had brought the media along to tarnish the chief minister's image. This development occurred a day after a previous attempt by a crime branch team to deliver the notice to the chief minister failed and stated that officials at his home had refused to accept it.

Last week, AAP had accused the BJP of offering Rs 25 crore each to seven of its MLAs to defect from the party, while also threatening to destabilise the Kejriwal government. Kejriwal had made these allegations in a post on X.

During a press conference last week, AAP leader Atishi, too, claimed that the BJP had initiated "Operation Lotus 2.0" in Delhi, alleging a similar attempt to poach AAP MLAs had occurred the previous year. "They had made a similar attempt to poach AAP MLAs last year by offering them money but failed”, she said. 

After the allegations were made, a delegation of the Delhi BJP led by its chief Virender Sachdeva met the city police chief on January 30, seeking a probe into the charges.

Following a meeting with, Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora at the Police Headquarters, Sachdeva stated that Kejriwal was asked to substantiate his allegations, but no one from the AAP had come forward with any evidence.

Commenting on this, Union Minister Anurag Thakur says, "Arvind Kejriwal has accused (BJP) of buying their MLAs. So now the time has come to tell the police and the country what evidence they have, otherwise once again they will be exposed... To divert attention from their liquor scam, they levelled false allegations against the BJP."

On Friday, a crime branch team also visited the residence of Delhi Minister Atishi but was unable to deliver the notice as she was not present.