Arvind Kejriwal receives visitors in Tihar jail including wife and secretary

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met his wife Sunita Kejriwal and personal secretary Bibhav Kumar inside Tihar Jail on Tuesday, with sources saying it was the AAP conveners first in-person meeting with them since he was sent in judicial custody on April 1.According to the jail manual, an inmate can meet physically or through video conference visitors twice a week.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met his wife Sunita Kejriwal and personal secretary Bibhav Kumar inside Tihar Jail on Tuesday, with sources saying it was the AAP convener's first in-person meeting with them since he was sent in judicial custody on April 1.

According to the jail manual, an inmate can meet physically or through video conference visitors twice a week. He has to give the names of such visitors prior to the meeting. ''His wife Sunita Kejriwal and his personal secretary Bibhav Kumar met him at 'mulakat jangla' of Tihar jail on Tuesday afternoon. The jail administration allowed them to meet for half an hour,'' said a source. The 'mulakat jangla' is an iron mesh which separates the inmate from the visitor in a room inside the jail. A visitor and an inmate can talk to each other by sitting on either sides of the mesh.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court dismissed Kejriwal's petition challenging his arrest in the money laundering case stemming from the alleged excise scam, saying there was no contravention of legal provisions.

According to the sources, this is the first such meeting of Kejriwal with his wife inside the jail since he was sent to judicial custody on April 1. So far, she and other family members have been talking to Kejriwal via video call or over the phone, the sources said.

Apart from meetings on video call or in-person, which is allowed twice a week, an inmate gets the facility to talk to phone call for five minutes daily, an official said. The inmate has to give names to the jail administration before talking to them, here as well, he said. Kejriwal has given the names of six people including Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, so far, whom he wants to talk to or meet in the jail.

Mann's office in Punjab has also sought time to meet Kejriwal in the jail, and the sources said it may take place this week.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Kejriwal has been lodged in jail number 2.