Anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal and his aid Manish Shishodia were arrested by police on Friday, while staging a protest near the prime minister's 7 Race Course Road residence with a group of differently-abled people demanding the resignation of Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid in the light of a new scam.
The rest of the protesters were forcefully evicted from the protest venue by officials. Janpath in New Delhi witnessed high-drama after Kejriwal and his supporters resisted police action, prompting police personnel to whisk them away in a bus.
According to reports, police had stopped Kejriwal from marching to the PM's residence. An unrelenting Kejriwal decided to continue the protest, until Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to meet him.
Earlier, the Prime Minister's Office turned down Kejriwal's request to meet Singh over the issue, saying that PM had appointments throughout the day. He also wished to hand over a letter, detailing the allegations against Khurshid, personally to the PM.
A sting operation by Aaj Tak news channel alleged that Khurshid and his wife Louise siphoned off lakhs of rupees intended to help physically-challenged people in Uttar Pradesh through an NGO headed by them. .
With the unfolding of the scam, Kejriwal has been pressing for Khrushid's resignation and the arrest of his wife.
The activist-turned-politician on Wednesday said that he had been invited by differently-abled activists from Rashtriya Viklang party to join their protest seeking action against Khurshid.
Khurshid dismissed the allegations levelled against him and threatened to take the concerned channel to court over the issue. Kejriwal reportedly said that the law minister must be dismissed immediately without an inquiry into the matter.
Commenting on Kejriwal's demands for his resignation, Khurshid told NDTV, "I don't think that Mr. Kejriwal deserves a reply from anybody but we will take care of Kejriwal in due course of time."
