To harp on statehood, CM Arvind Kejriwal takes on cops again

NEW DELHI: With chief minister Arvind Kejriwal slamming Delhi Police for having done nothing to prevent Gajendra Singh's suicide on Wednesday, the government and the police force appear to be in for another face-off.

Reiterating the issue of control of the force, Kejriwal suggested that police would have acted and saved the man had the Delhi government been the controlling authority. Police claimed that they had acted promptly but failed to save Singh.

Delhi Police and the state government have always been at loggerheads as the former reports to the Centre. During AAP's previous 49-day tenure, the law and order condition in the capital had been the bone of contention between the two. Kejriwal had had major issues with the assistant commissioner of police and the station house officer (SHO) of Malviya Nagar and Paharganj in the Khirki raid and Danish gangrape cases, respectively. He had also objected to the way the Sagarpur SHO had handled a dowry death case.

Kejriwal had asked the police commissioner to take action against the trio but was refused, leading to a massive dharna for three days at Rail Bhawan that had brought central Delhi to a standstill.

During the second term, the AAP government initially had a relatively peaceful time with police. Kejriwal even visited the police headquarters to understand how the force works. Police too had adopted an amiable stance. The seeds of fresh confrontations were planted two weeks ago when Kejriwal demanded the details about the postings of SHOs. The force then sought the home ministry's intervention.

Police's cold reply to a call made by a Delhi government officer a day before the Wednesday rally to keep media away from Kejriwal during public functions only fuelled the tension.

Several FIRs are registered with Delhi Police against AAP MLAs, volunteers and even Kejriwal under various sections. The police department has already strengthened itself on corruption issues by launching a WhatsApp helpline and bolstering its vigilance unit to minimize chances of confrontations unlike the last time.