Arvind Kejriwal, a prominent opposition lawmaker and deputy minister of Delhi, has been detained by the country’s economic crime agency, according to his party.
The arrest is related to corruption allegations involving the state’s alcohol sales plans.
Mr Kejriwal and his party, the Aadmi Party ( AAP ), deny any wrongdoing and say the case is politically motivated.
His imprisonment comes days before voting begins in the government’s general election.
On Thursday, officers searched Mr. Kejriwal’s apartment while he was surrounded by his family members.
The case involves allegations that secret retailers lost out on an liquor sale policy that the Delhi government instituted in 2022, which ended the government’s monopoly.
Mr. Kejriwal has ignored several indictments in the case.
The AAP says it will request an immediate hearing at the Supreme Court to secure Mr. Kejriwal’s release after accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) of “dirty politics.”
Opposition parties accused the BJP government’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using federal agencies for social purposes prior to the vote.
Dilip Pandey, AAP senator and chief whip in the Delhi council, told the BBC the imprisonment shows that Mr Modi “is scared of Kejriwal”.
” They can arrest Kejriwal but not his thoughts. We may continue to fight his imprisonment and the cruel laws of Mr Modi’s state”, Mr Pandey said.
They are one of many well-known opposition figures who are the area of criminal investigations that many claim to be politically motivated.
Rahul Gandhi, the most renowned part of the opposition’s Congress group, was found guilty of unlawful slander last year following a complaint made by a BJP member.
His two-year jail word resulted in him being temporarily barred from parliament until a higher court suspended him, but this has raised questions about the state of democracy in India.
