File photo of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia
An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lawmaker showed up at the Delhi Police headquarters this afternoon to "surrender" and preempt what his party said was inevitable arrest. An AAP lawmaker will turn himself in every day, the party declared, using a new strategy to take on the police.
A group of AAP leaders accompanied Commando Surender Singh as he met Police Commissioner BS Bassi and "courted arrest". The lawmaker has been questioned recently by the police over an alleged fake university degree - the second such instance after former law minister Jitender Tomar, who is in jail.
"We are apprehensive that Commando Surender will be arrested like other AAP MLAs," party leader Sanjay Singh said after meeting the police chief.
"The Commissioner assured us that the course of law will be followed and he will not buckle to political pressure. All lawmakers of AAP are willing to surrender if the police wants," the AAP leader told reporters.
The party defended Surender Singh, saying he had been cheated by the university where he studied.
The lawmaker said the degree he secured in 2012 is not fake, but admitted that he made a mistake while listing his university in his poll affidavit. "While mentioning about the degree in the affidavit, I mentioned it as Sikkim University while it should have been Eiilm Sikkim University. I made a mistake by entering the wrong university but I do have a degree and have passed out from a university," he said.
AAP accuses the BJP government at the Centre of victimizing its leaders with a political agenda. Two AAP leaders are in jail. Besides Jitender Tomar, who has been in prison for over a month for allegedly faking his degrees, lawmaker Manoj Kumar was arrested last week over a land dispute.
"The police have been active against AAP for the past few days. This is because of pressure from Prime Minister Narendra Modi," said Sanjay Singh.