Ex-AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan come out in support of Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Some former AAP leaders, who fell out of favour with party supremo Arvind Kejriwal over the years, came out in his support on Friday, claiming that a sitting chief minister's arrest before the Lok Sabha elections "without evidence" is akin to "murder of democracy".

Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday evening in a Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case.

However, former tourism minister in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, who is now a vice-president in the Delhi BJP, Kapil Mishra described Kejriwal's arrest as a "joyous day" for the residents of the national capital.

Kejriwal, the national convener of the AAP, on Friday was produced before a court where the ED dubbed him a "key conspirator" in the excise policy scam case and sought his 10-day custody.

Political activist and founder of Swaraj India Yogendra Yadav, who was removed from the AAP in 2015 by its disciplinary committee, termed Kejriwal's arrest as "unjust".

"I am astonished. What is going on in this country in the name of democracy? You change the referee before the match by appointing new ECs (election commissioners). You are freezing the bank accounts of opponent. Notices have been given in 30-year-old cases. Do proper investigation. If court convicts, then be it PM (prime minister) or anybody else, they should be punished," he said while talking to PTI.

Yadav said "making arrests before an election by hook or by crook is like murder of democracy"."Unjust (what) has been done to Arvind Kejriwal. I'm sure people will teach them a lesson," he said.

Opposition parties, including the Congress, the RJD and the TMC, have been attacking the BJP-led central government over the AAP leader's arrest.

Kejriwal and Yadav, who were prominent leaders of the Anna Hazare-led 'India Against Corruption' movement of 2011-12, also founded the AAP along with others in 2012. However, amid internal squabbling, many top AAP leaders, including Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, quit the party.

On Kejriwal's arrest, Bhushan claimed that there was "no documentary evidence" with the ED against the chief minister.

"It's astounding that the ED has arrested a chief minister just before the elections after the Model Code of Conduct has come into place, and in a case, where they don't have any documentary evidence to show that he was involved in corruption, where they are relying on a statement of some approver who was the officer of a company. The company that had given electoral bonds to the BJP party which controls the ED," Bhushan said, without taking names.

Targeting the AAP, Mishra said, "It is a joyous day for the people of Delhi. It's a day for justice." It is freedom from the rule of a "corrupt and dishonest" government, Mishra said while talking to PTI.

Talking to PTI at his village Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra, Hazare said he had warned Kejriwal to stay away from making such a policy. He was arrested because of his own deeds, he said.

"I had told him that our job is not to make excise policy. Even a small child knows that liquor is bad. I had asked him to stay away from this (excise policy) issue. But he went ahead and made the policy,” Hazare said, .

"He got arrested due to his deeds. Had he not done anything, there was no question of his being arrested," Hazare said.

Now, the law will take its course and the government will do the needful, he said.