There is no 'open debate' in murder case: Kejriwal to Maheish Girri

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday flatly refused BJP MP Maheish Girri's demand of having an 'open debate' in the murder case of NDMC Officer MM Khan.

He also used the occasion to train guns at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government at the Centre, saying the NDA regime's criminal justice system allows a person to commit the crime and then sit in protest outside Kejriwal's residence.

"Is there an open debate in a murder case? Is this the criminal justice system of the BJP wherein they allow the accused of a murder case to sit in protest in front of Kejriwal's residence? I think this is the message of the Modi Government that anyone who commits a crime by killing a person should come and sit in protest in front of Kejriwal's residence and then the big BJP leaders would come to support the accused," Kejriwal said.

"The police should arrest him (Maheish Girri) and should interrogate him as to what relations he had with the prime accused. It is the duty of the police to arrest and then start the investigation but they are unable to do that, because of the pressure from the BJP," he said.

The BJP lawmaker from East Delhi has been sitting on a hunger strike since yesterday with posters challenging Kejriwal for a debate.

Girri earlier in the day said that his hunger strike would continue.

"The hunger strike is going to continue. The Delhi Chief Minister has leveled baseless allegations of my involvement in NDMC official MM Khan's murder," he told ANI.

"I will not even move from here till he comes out and I get justice," he added.

In a letter to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, Kejriwal had accused the former of trying to "save" Girri and NDMC vice-chairman Karan Singh Tanwar in Khan's murder case.

Girri had asked Kejriwal for a public debate on his allegations.

Khan was shot dead in Jamia Nagar on May 16, a day before he was scheduled to pass the final order on the lease terms of a hotel which was functioning on a property leased out by the civic body.