Kejriwal diabetes row
'Had mangoes only three thrice, sweets 6 times in jail': Arvind Kejriwal counters ED claims in court
New Delhi/IBNS: Amid a row over Arvind Kejriwal eating mangoes inside the jail and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposing his request for a daily 15-minute video consultation with his doctor even as the Aam Aadmi Party claimed conspiracy to murder its supremo, the Delhi CM Friday hit out at the probe agency for being "petty" and "politicising" his diet instead of ensuring his health.
"Just because I am a prisoner... do I have no right to a dignified life and good health? Am I a gangster that I cannot even be allowed 15 minutes of video conference with my doctor?" he asked in court.
Opposing Kejriwal's request for daily 15-minute video consults with his doctor, the ED had claimed that the Delhi CM had deliberately eaten foods high in sugar to create grounds for medical bail.
The court resumed its hearing on Friday and then reserved its verdict for Monday.
"ED claimed I want to increase my blood sugar levels to get bail. Am I going to risk paralysis to get bail? Whatever food I have is as per the diet chart prepared by my doctor prior to arrest," senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, told the court at the start of the hearing.
In his submission, Kejriwal said he had been prescribed 50 units of insulin - 28 in the morning and 22 at night - since 2012, and that he had been "deprived of the life-saving drug for the last 29 days".
"It is shocking that ED (believes) a person would deliberately cause such alarming hikes in sugar level and risk his life - for getting medical bail," Kejriwal argued in his submission, countering the ED's rationale for the spike in his blood sugar level.
To this, the ED replied: "Legal mulakaats (meetings) were abused earlier... there is a court order."
"The real reason for the continuous spike is the refusal of jail authorities to give insulin to the applicant, which is a life-saving drug..." the Chief Minister's submission argued.
Kejriwal's submission offered a detailed rebuttal to the ED's claims, including providing the names of the insulin injections and underlining his doctor's recommendations, as well as listing when he had been supplied with mangoes (as part of the home-cooked meals allowed by the court).
"The allegation is I have been consuming mangoes (but) out of 48 meals from home, only three had mangoes. No mangoes were sent after April 8," Kejriwal's lawyer said, arguing the ED had made mangoes "look like sugar bullets". "(In reality) their sugar level is less than brown or white rice."
On the ED's claim that he regularly had white sugar in his tea, Singhvi clarified the Chief Minister only used Sugar-Free, a popular artificial sugar food item. Slamming the probe agency for being "ridiculous", Singhvi also accused it of misusing its "influence in the media".
"Just because you have a lot of influence in the media you are able to publish - that I am having aloo-puri - even though this meal was sent only once - during Navratri," he told the court.
Kejriwal is in jail in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy scam.
Earlier the AAP had alleged that a conspiracy had been hatched to kill Arvind Kejriwal inside the jai claiming that he has Type-2 diabetes and is being denied proper treatment.
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