Following a surge in blood sugar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal gave insulin for the first time in Tihar prison

NEW DELHI: Following a sharp rise in his blood sugar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was given insulin inside Tihar prison on Monday night at the recommendation of AIIMS medical professionals. Since his arrest on March 21, 2024, by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), he has never before received insulin.
“Kejriwal was given two units of low-dose insulin on Monday evening on the advice of AIIMS doctors,”  an official from Tihar added.

Around 7 p.m., his blood sugar level was discovered to be 217, and the attending physicians at Tihar opted to administer insulin, according to the official.
He stated that Tihar’s physicians had been informed by AIIMS experts in a video conference with the chief minister on April 20 that insulin might be administered to him if his blood sugar level exceeded a certain threshold.

The Aam Aadmi Party posted the details on its official X profile, which was previously on Twitter. The party said, “Finally, the BJP and its jail administration came to their senses and gave insulin to CM Kejriwal in jail.”

“CM Kejriwal’s blood sugar level was 320. Only the grace of Lord Hanuman and the perseverance of the Delhi community have made this possible. Our chief minister has received insulin, thanks to our successful delivery,” it said.

This comes a day after a Delhi court denied his request, which asked that the administration of Tihar prison provide him insulin and grant him daily access to a 15-minute video conference with his physicians.
In addition, Kejriwal accused the prison authorities in a letter to the superintendent of Tihar prison of refusing to provide him insulin in spite of his numerous demands.
According to the chief minister, “political pressure” forced the Tihar administration to release a “false and misleading” statement.

“This is untrue. I have brought up the subject of insulin many times a day for the last ten days. I showed every doctor I saw that my blood sugar was elevated. In his letter, he said, “I showed them that the sugar level had three peaks every day, ranging from 250 to 320.

Sanjay Beniwal, the director general of Tihar Jail (a prison), said in the interim that “he receives meals at home via a court order and there is a set time for food distribution. It is inevitable if it takes five to seven minutes for it to reach him after checking. 900–1000 prisoners suffer from diabetes. Every day, I oversee between 900 and 1000 inmates under my care. These are not concerns in my opinion, but I avoid getting involved in politics when others bring them up.”

“There are 20,000 inmates in the facility, all of whom have perceived or actual problems. We also need to make arrangements for their reparations. Every prison has a visiting judge who keeps an eye on the inmates’ health, their housing conditions, and their access to legal representation. In a letter to the prison superintendent, the chief minister said, “They also listen to the inmate’s grievances as well.”
In conjunction with an investigation into possible money laundering connected to anomalies in the since-canceled Delhi excise policy 2021–2022, the Enforcement Department (ED) detained Kejriwal on March 21.