‘My courage has grown 100 times’: Welcomed by party top brass, holds show of strength at Civil Lines

Referring to his time in jail, Kejriwal added, “God supported me because I was truthful and right. These people (BJP) put me in jail. They thought that putting me in jail would break my spirit. My courage has grown stronger 100 times after coming out of jail.”

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED in relation to the money laundering case linked to the excise policy “scam” on March 21. On June 26, he was formally arrested by the CBI in the corruption case linked to the “scam”. In his seven months of incarceration, he stepped out for 20 days – on May 10 to campaign for Lok Sabha Polls after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail.

“My life is devoted to this nation. Each and every moment of my life… every drop of my blood is dedicated to the country. I have struggled a lot in life. I faced a lot of difficulties.. but God supported me at every step,” he said.

Earlier in the day, around 1 pm, his wife Sunita Kejriwal, accompanied by several AAP leaders, stepped out of the CM’s residence in Civil Lines and distributed motichoor laddoos to jubilant supporters.

Party workers erupted in celebration, raising slogans like ‘Jail ke taale toot gaye, Kejriwal chhoot gaye”, as the energetic beats of dhol-nagadas filled the air.

After the celebrations at the CM’s residence, AAP leaders made their way to the party headquarters before heading to Tihar Jail. At Gate 3 of the jail, a section of the road was cordoned off to accommodate the swelling crowd of AAP workers.

As Kejriwal emerged from the prison gates in a blue shirt, the crowd’s slogans turned into louder cheers. His first meeting was with party leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, who had been arrested earlier in connection with the same case. He then headed to a roadshow from near Changiram Akhada to his Civil Lines residence.

With his release, just one accused – Amandeep Singh Dhall – among the 40 remains behind bars in both the ED and the CBI cases linked to the excise policy “scam”.

As per the CBI and the ED, Kejriwal allegedly received “bribe money” from the ‘South Group’ (business persons from South India) in exchange for granting favours to them when the now-scrapped excise policy was being drafted.