Arvind Kejriwal arrested: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy scam case. His arrest days before the Lok Sabha elections 2024 has been condemned by the opposition parties including those from I.N.D.I.A bloc of which Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is a member.
Delhi CM Kejriwal is the first sitting chief minister to be arrested by a law enforcement agency. There have been instances of chief ministers facing corruption charges.
Here's a look at ex-CMs to have faced arrests till now
Hemant Soren (Jharkhand)
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 31 in connection with a money laundering probe into an alleged land scam in his state. Ahead of his arrest, Soren had resigned from his post and the party chose senior minister Champai Soren as the next CM. As Hemant Soren has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), it has become the talk of the town, and people have started several questions. For instance, is Hemant Soren the only Chief Minister to be arrested? Well, the answer is No. Hemant Soren resigned just before being arrested, and it should be noted that never in the history of Indian politics any sitting Chief Minister has been arrested. Hemant Soren is the third former CM of Jharkhand to be detained; before him, Madhu Koda and Shibu Soren have been arrested. Hemant Soren has been arrested in a money laundering case.
Lalu Prasad Yadav (Bihar)
Lalu Prasad Yadav, a former Bihar CM, was put behind the bars in connection with the fodder scam, which revolved around the misappropriation of public funds earmarked for purchasing of livestock feed. He was also accused of diverting substantial amounts of public money over an extended period. The scheme involved the creation of fake bills to facilitate the embezzlement. The scandal came to light in the 1990s. In 2013, Lalu Prasad was found guilty in one case, resulting in a five-year prison sentence and his disqualification from holding elected office. Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad was named in the CBI chargesheet in the fodder scam for the first time in 1997. After pressure from the opposition, he was forced to resign and installed his wife Rabri Devi as the CM.
J Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu)
J Jayalalithaa, the late former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, faced a high-profile corruption case, accused of amassing assets beyond her known income during her tenure. The allegations included owning extensive properties, jewellery and other assets believed to be acquired through questionable means. In 2014, she was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison, leading to her removal as chief minister. She appealed and was acquitted in 2015 by Karnataka High Court, regaining her position. The Karnataka government, however, challenged her acquittal and in 2017, the Supreme Court reinstated the conviction. Jayalalithaa passed away before the verdict. In 2014, then Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa was convicted in a disproportionate assets case by a Bengaluru court. She was forced to step down and O Panneerselvam was sworn in as chief minister.
Om Prakash Chautala (Haryana)
Om Prakash Chautala, a former chief minister of Haryana, was embroiled in a corruption case regarding teacher recruitment in the early 2000s. Allegations pointed to irregularities and corrupt practices in the selection process. In 2013, he and his son Ajay were convicted on various charges, including cheating and forgery, receiving 10-year prison sentences. Despite appeals, their convictions were upheld by both the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court in 2015. Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief Om Prakash Chautala, the son of former deputy prime minister Chaudhary Devi Lal, was convicted in 2022 for amassing assets disproportionate to his known lawful sources of income, in his name and in the names of his family members during his tenure as chief minister from July 24, 1999, to March 5, 2005. However, the Delhi High Court suspended a four-year sentence handed to him in the case in 2022.
Madhu Koda (Jharkhand)
Madhu Koda, former Jharkhand Chief Minister, was imprisoned for corruption during his tenure. He faced charges of money laundering and accumulating disproportionate assets. Koda was allegedly involved in a mining scandal and accused of granting mining contracts for bribes. According to a report, he and his associates gained over Rs 4,000 crore through such practices. After arrest in 2009, he was released on bail in 2013, but his properties worth Rs 144 crore were attached in a money-laundering case. In 2017, he was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison with a Rs 25 lakh fine. Madhu Koda, the youngest chief minister of Jharkhand who ran the state from 2006 to 2008, was arrested in 2009 after the ED found discrepancies in his finances. The ED and CBI alleged that Koda received bribes for allocating coal and mining blocks during his tenure as CM.
Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh)
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo Chandrababu Naidu was arrested on September 9, 2023 for allegedly misappropriating funds from the Skill Development Corporation, which resulted in a purported loss of over Rs 300 crore to the state exchequer. He is currently out on interim bail, and his regular bail petition will be heard by Andhra Pradesh High Court on November 10. Chandrababu Naidu was arrested last year in a skill development case. The arrest took place in the case pertaining to an alleged multi-crore skill development corporation scam during his stint as CM.
Shibu Soren (Jharkhand)
On December 5, 2006, a Delhi court sentenced Hemant Soren’s father, Shibu Soren, to life in prison for his role in the abduction and murder of his private secretary, Shashi Nath Jha, in 1994. Shibu Soren was then the Coal Minister in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government. In August 2007, the Delhi High Court absolved Shibu Soren after pulling up the CBI for coming up short miserably in getting proof against senior Soren. The verdict of the Delhi High Court that found Shibu Soren not guilty of the murder of his private secretary was upheld by the Supreme Court in April 2018. Shashi Nath Jha disappeared in May 1994, and his body was subsequently found in Ranchi.
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