Police beefs up security at Delhi Secretariat

Security at the Delhi Secretariat was beefed up and visitors and employees were being thoroughly checked by the Delhi Police, two days after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was attacked at the high-security building with chili powder.

Police said they have tightened the security arrangements at the Delhi Secretariat. Visitors and employees were being thoroughly checked to ascertain if they were carrying any harmful items, including tobacco products and matchboxes.

Even the files being carried by individuals were checked, a police official said.

The secretariat houses office of the chief minister and top bureaucrats.

This comes after a man flung chilli powder at Kejriwal outside his office in the Delhi Secretariat on Tuesday. The accused had brought the powder to the secretariat in packets of 'khaini' or chewing tobacco, an attack the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) described as "politically motivated", while asserting that the BJP was hatching a conspiracy in collusion with the Delhi Police to attack the chief minister.

Even as the AAP alleged that it was the third attack on Kejriwal, the Delhi Police, however, issued a statement recounting the incident but did not specify whether the man threw chilli powder or not. The statement mentioned that the man, Anil Kumar Sharma, possessed a pouch which apparently contained chilli powder.

The Delhi Police registered a case against Sharma at the IP Estate police station, a senior police officer said. He, however, added that no formal complaint was received from the secretariat.