In ED custody, Arvind Kejriwal congratulates Bhagwant Mann on daughter's birth

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday congratulated his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann after the latter was blessed with a daughter at a private hospital in Mohali.

While coming out of the courtroom after his hearing in the liquor policy case, Kejriwal said, "I congratulate Bhagwant Mann on being blessed with a baby girl".

Announcing the news, Mann took to X (formerly known as Twitter) and wrote: "God has given the gift of a daughter. Both mother and the child are healthy". Bhagwant Mann married Dr Gurpreet Kaur on in July 2022, in Chandigarh, four months after he took oath as the Chief Minister of Punjab.

Meanwhile, Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court extended Arvind Kejriwal's Enforcement Directorate remand by 4 days till April 1. The Chief Minister was produced before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja where the probe agency sought his seven-day further custody arguing he needed to be confronted with some people linked with the case.

The Enforcement Directorate alleged that Kejriwal was giving evasive replies and not disclosing passwords of his digital devices.

Arvind Kejriwal, on the other hand, claimed that a smokescreen of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) being corrupt has been created before the nation. The AAP chief himself made submissions in court. In his submissions, Kejriwal said, "I am named by four witnesses in the excise policy case. Are 4 statements enough to arrest a sitting CM?"

The Chief Minister also said that he was ready to face the Enforcement Directorate probe. He also asserted that the motive of the probe agency was to crush AAP.

"I am not opposing the remand petition of the ED. The ED can keep me in custody for as many days as it wants. But this is a scam," the Delhi CM said.

"The ED had two objectives. One is to crush AAP, and the second is to create a smokescreen and run an extortion racket behind it through which they are collecting money," Kejriwal added.