New Delhi:

The United States on Wednesday reiterated its call for “a fair, transparent and timely legal process” after India summoned U.S. diplomats over comments made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over his arrest in the liquor policy case.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in response to a question about India’s summons of Gloria Berbena, the acting US deputy chief of mission in New Delhi, that we will continue to closely monitor these actions, including the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind · Kejriwal.

The meeting held at the South Zone Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lasted for nearly 40 minutes yesterday. India strongly opposed the US remarks on the arrest of Kejriwal.

Miller also responded to a question about the Congress party freezing bank accounts, saying: “We are also aware that the Congress party has alleged that the tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts, which will make it difficult to campaign effectively in the upcoming elections. Gotta be challenging. Election”.

Read | India summons US diplomat over comments on Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

He said the United States encourages “fair, transparent and timely legal proceedings” on these issues.

“Regarding your first question, I’m not going to talk about any private diplomatic conversations, but of course, what we say publicly is what I just said here, we encourage a fair, transparent, timely legal process. We I think any No one should object to that,” he said.

Mr Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week, the third person after Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh to be detained in connection with the liquor policy scam Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader.

The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it was following reports of Kejriwal’s arrest and called on New Delhi to ensure “fair and timely legal process” for the jailed chief minister.

India objected to the move and warned it set an “unhealthy precedent”.

Read | ‘Encourage fair, transparent legal process’: US arrests Arvind Kejriwal

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “Countries should respect the sovereignty and internal affairs of other countries, and this responsibility is even more true for other democratic countries. Otherwise, it may end up setting an unhealthy precedent.”

“The legal process in India is based on an independent judiciary and is committed to objective and timely results. The defamation of this is baseless,” the ministry stressed.

A few days ago, Germany’s foreign ministry stressed Mr Kejriwal’s right to a fair and impartial trial. The Indian government reacted strongly and summoned the German envoy, calling his remarks a “blatant interference in internal affairs.”

The excise policy was introduced to overhaul Delhi’s liquor industry but was scrapped after Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena ordered a probe into alleged irregularities in the policy. The education ministry believes that slush funds from the policy were allegedly used to finance AAP’s election campaign. It also called Mr Kejriwal a “co-conspirator” in the case.

His arrest on the eve of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections also triggered strong protests from the opposition camp.