Atishi claims diabetic Arvind Kejriwal has lost 4.5 kg weight since arrest

NEW DELHI: Delhi Minister Atishi has claimed that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who suffers from “severe diabetes”, has lost 4.5 kg weight ever since his arrest.

“Arvind Kejriwal suffers from severe diabetes. Despite health problems, he used to work 24 hours a day to serve the country. Since his arrest, Arvind Kejriwal has lost 4.5 kg of weight. This is very worrying”, Atishi said in a post on ‘X’.

Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for allegedly conspiring to put Kejriwal in jail, Atishi added, “Today, the BJP is putting his health at risk by jailing him. If something happens to Arvind Kejriwal, forget about the entire country, even God will not forgive them”.

#WATCH | Delhi Minister Atishi says, "…Arvind Kejriwal is a severe diabetes patient but he never let his health issue come as a hindrance in the service of the country. Since the BJP-ruled central government arrested him there has been a serious challenge to his health… pic.twitter.com/OmdcWnQrAn

— ANI (@ANI) April 3, 2024

According to sources in the Aam Aadmi Party, the Chief Minister’s weight is decreasing rapidly in jail. Party sources said that since his arrest, Kejriwal has lost four and a half kilogrammes of weight and his doctors have expressed concern over his rapidly decreasing weight.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal, who has been remanded to judicial custody in the liquor policy case, spoke to his wife, Sunita Kejriwal, through video conference around 1.30 pm on Tuesday. Kejriwal started Wednesday morning by sweeping his prison cell with a broom at Delhi’s Tihar Jail, sources said adding that all undertrial prisoners at Tihar Jail have to clean their cells themselves.

On April 1, a Delhi court remanded the Delhi Chief Minister to 15-day judicial custody in the excise policy case and sent him to Tihar Jail till April 15. The court has permitted him to have home-cooked meals and carry with him the prescribed medications for his diabetes.

According to the sources, the Delhi Chief Minister lodged in Jail Number 2 of the high security Tihar Jail was given an isolation room and was provided with a table and a chair to keep three books, as per the court’s order.

“Kejriwal slept on his own bed, which was different from the regular one provided by the jail authority. Since the area was small, he could have faced difficulty but didn’t complain about it,” the sources in the Tihar jail said on Tuesday.

They further said that officials saw him keeping his devices like a sugar sensor and glucometer, isabgol, glucose and toffees on his table. The court had directed jail authorities to allow Kejriwal to carry these items to be used in case of sudden dip in his sugar levels.

Kejriwal was taken to jail on Monday afternoon after the conclusion of his Directorate of Enforcement custodial remand. The ED cast the Delhi Chief Minister as the “kingpin” in the alleged scam, and told the court the AAP leader had given “evasive replies” and concealed information relevant to the investigation.

In the year 2014 too the AAP leader was lodged in Tihar jail after he refused to furnish a bail amount of Rs 10,000 in a defamation case filed against him by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari. (ANI)