The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made a claim before a Delhi court on Thursday that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail, is eating foods high in sugar, including mangoes and sweets, every day, despite having Type 2 diabetes, in order to raise his blood sugar level and create grounds for medical bail or the shift to a hospital. Mr. Kejriwal has been granted permission by the court to eat home-cooked food to deal with his ailment while in judicial custody. The AAP in turn hit out at the BJP and the ED for “trying to kill him” by attempting to stop the provision.
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The ED made the claim before the special judge for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED cases, Kaveri Baweja, in response to a plea by Mr. Kejriwal to avail video conferencing facility with the doctor who has been treating him for diabetes. “The cause of concern is he was allowed prescribed home-cooked food because he claimed he has high diabetes. But he is having mangoes, sweets and sugar with tea. This is a basis to create a ground for bail,” the ED’s lawyer submitted.
He added that the details were revealed by the Tihar Jail authorities when the ED wrote to them seeking information on Mr. Kejriwal’s diet and medication.
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Advocate Vivek Jain, appearing for Mr. Kejriwal, objected to the submissions made by the ED, and said that the investigating agency was making these allegations “only for the media”, that he was withdrawing the present application for video conferencing with Mr. Kejriwal’s doctor, and that he would file a better one. The court on Thursday sought a report from the Tihar Jail on Mr. Kejriwal’s diet chart.
AAP responds
Senior AAP leader Atishi, reacting to the ED’s allegations in court while addressing a press conference, said that the BJP and the ED are trying to “take his (Mr. Kejriwal’s) life” by stopping the provision of home-cooked food and putting his life in danger as he had been a diabetes patient for the past 30 years, and had been taking 54 units of insulin on a daily basis. “The ED and BJP are hatching a conspiracy to take Mr. Kejriwal’s life by not giving him access to his diet that has been recommended by a doctor, and access to insulin when his sugar is high, by lying to the court,” Ms. Atishi said. She added that the diet and exercise of an acute diabetes patient was carefully planned by medical professionals, and that the ED was putting Mr. Kejriwal’s life in danger by lying to the court.
“The ED is saying that he is having tea and sweets, which is leading to his blood sugar rising. Let me inform them that this is a lie as these are being prepared using a low calorie sweetener that is prescribed for diabetic patients. He is being provided bananas to deal with a sudden fall in sugar that can be life threatening,” Ms. Atishi said.
She also responded to a statement by the ED that Mr. Kejriwal was eating alu and puri despite being a diabetic. “He has eaten alu puri only once while in Tihar Jail, which was on the first day of Navratri. For us Hindus, this is considered as prasad on the first day of the festival,” Ms. Atishi said.
The plea to meet with his regular doctor for consultation via video conferencing, Ms. Atishi said, was because Mr. Kejriwal, since February 1, had been going through a diabetes reversal programme and had not been taking his insulin. However, since his arrest on March 21, he had stopped the programme. “He wanted to consult with his doctor regarding his treatment. But instead, the Tihar Jail authorities are not giving him access to his insulin, and the ED is spreading lies in court,” Ms. Atishi said.