Trouble has increased for Delhi’s former Chief Minister and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Arvind Kejriwal. This time, Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court has ordered the filing of an FIR against him on charges of misusing government funds. The court instructed the Delhi Police to file the complaint. It’s not just Kejriwal alone; similar orders have been issued against several other AAP leaders as well.

The allegations against Kejriwal and his associates are that they misused government funds while in power in Delhi. They allegedly spent excess funds from government allocations on large hoardings. On Tuesday, a hearing was held at a lower court in Delhi regarding these allegations. During the hearing, the judge directed the Delhi Police to file an FIR against Kejriwal and his team. The judge also instructed them to submit an investigation report on the allegations to the court. The police are required to submit the investigation report by March 18. Notably, an application seeking legal action on the same charges was filed in the lower court in Delhi back in 2019, though no permission was granted at that time.

Apart from Kejriwal, AAP leader Gopal Singh and leader Nikita Sharma have also been ordered to face FIRs. The AAP, which has been in power in Delhi for over 10 years, is accused of misusing government funds for party propaganda. In January last year, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had ordered the AAP to return ₹163.62 crore with interest for the same misuse.

In January this year, the BJP alleged that the AAP government had exceeded its allocated budget for project promotions. According to Padma Shri awardees, ₹54 crore was allocated for the ‘Business Blasters’ program, but ₹80 crore was spent. It wasn’t just this one project; the BJP also cited several other projects where similar discrepancies were observed.