New Delhi, Feb 27, 2023, IANS

New Delhi, Feb 27 (IANS): The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday held protests across the country after Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was arrested by CBI in connection with the alleged corruption in the now-scrapped excise policy.

Protests are being staged in Chandigarh, Delhi, Bhopal and other cities amid heavy police deployment.

Since morning, several AAP workers and leaders had gathered at AAP headquarters in Delhi even as police erected barricades on several roads leading to DDU Marg where both the BJP headquarters and the AAP office are located.

The Rapid Action Force and CRPF with riot gear have also been deployed in the area.

AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday claimed that most of the CBI officers were opposed to arresting his deputy Manish Sisodia but did so due to political pressure.

"I am told that most CBI officers were against Manish's arrest. All of them have huge respect for him and there is no evidence against him. But the political pressure was so high that they had to obey their political masters," Kejriwal said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, the AAP spokesperson, Saurabh Bhardwaj said that the long detention of its leaders was illegal and drew a parallel between former prime minister Indira Gandhi's emergency era and the present.

The Delhi Police on Sunday detained 36 AAP leaders, including Sanjay Singh (Rajya Sabha MP), Gopal Rai (MLA and Delhi Minister), Rohit Kumar Mehraulia (Trilokpuri MLA) and Dinesh Mohnia (Sangam Vihar MLA), for violating the provisions section 144 CrPC imposed in South District.

"They were detained at around 12.40 p.m. on Sunday from Lodhi Road near CGO picket and taken to the Fatehpur Beri police station," said a senior police official, adding that they were released on Monday noon.