Fact Check: Viral Post Claiming Arvind Kejriwal's "Savage" Reply Is Fake

A fake quote is being attributed to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claiming that during a courtroom exchange in a Delhi Court, he questioned Additional Solicitor General Suryaprakash V Raju,  sarcastically asking him whether he would arrest Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah if he merely stated he paid them Rs 100 crore. BOOM found that the viral exchange between Kejriwal and ASG SV Raju did not occur in the Delhi courtroom as being claimed on social media.

Kejriwal was arrested on March 21, 2024, by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged connection to the liquor policy case. On March 28, Kejriwal was produced in Delhi's Rouse Avenue court in-person as his custody with the agency came to an end, with the Delhi High Court refusing to grant interim relief the previous day. While addressing the court during a speech Kejriwal detailed several things related to the case and alleged a 'political conspiracy' behind his arrest and questioned whether the ED has enough reasons to arrest a sitting chief minister with no case filed against him. Special CBI judge Kaveri Baweja granted four days remand custody of Kejriwal to the ED, which will end on April 1.

The viral exchange was posted on X by the handle AAP Ka Mehta (@DaaruBaazMehta), with the caption, "SAVAGE BY ARVIND KEJRIWAL. Arvind Kejriwal in Court : Why have you arrested me? ASG Raju : We have a statement against you. Kejriwal : So if I say I gave 100 crores to Modi and Amit Shah, will you go and arrest them basd on my statement? Judge and ASG both went quiet"

Click here to view, and here for an archive.

The same false claim was shared by other X handles.

FACT-CHECK

BOOM found that the viral court exchange claiming Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asking Additional Solicitor General Raju if he would arrest Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah if he stated he paid them Rs 100 crore, is fake. Taking a hint from the replies stating that exchange did not occur, we ran a keyword search and did not find any such exchange reported by news outlets or any reliable media reports corroborating the same.

BOOM then reached out to Newslaundry reporter Tanishka Sodhi who covered the court proceeding. Sodhi confirmed that the viral exchange is fake. "There were several reporters inside the courtroom and it's impossible that we caught everything but this - so yes, it's definitely fake. Perhaps started as a joke but I see a lot of people on Twitter actually buying it," Sodhi said. Press Trust of India reporter Awais Usmani confirmed to BOOM saying that the viral tweet was incorrect and nothing like that took place. Other reporters who were at the hearing quote tweeted some of the posts and also said the exchange did not take place including Thyagarajan Narendran from Moneycontrol and Umang Poddar from the BBC.

The complete 39-minute hearing can be read in the Newslaundry article detailing the arguments that were made during the hearing and the statements made by Kejriwal during his speech.

This story was originally published by BOOM, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.