Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday in the excise policy scam case, and his cabinet colleague Satyendar Jain, who is languishing in jail for last nine months in a money laundering case, on Tuesday resigned from Arvind Kejriwal government.

The resignations of the two ministers came shortly after the Supreme Court declined to entertain a plea by Sisodia challenging his arrest. Kejriwal has accepted the resignations of two ministers. This had brought down the strength of his ministry to five including the chief minister.

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The four ministers now in the cabinet are Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Raaj Kumar Anand and Imran Hussain.

Sisodia, who was arrested on Sunday and sent to CBI custody till March 4, held 18 portfolios including Finance and Education. He was also holding additional charge of Health, which was with Jain, who, now, has been in jail for 9 months.

Sisodia was also allocated additional charge of portfolios of Home, Power, Water and Industries, which were earlier held by Jain.

The resignation of Sisodia and Jain came after the Delhi BJP intensified its demand for their removal from the cabinet after Sisodia’s arrest.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to entertain Sisodia’s plea challenging his arrest in connection with the excise policy case. The apex court suggested that Sisodia should move Delhi High Court. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that the court is not inclined to entertain the petition at this stage and suggested Sisodia to move to Delhi High Court.

“It cannot interfere in the matter as it may open the gate of people approaching the top court in every such matter,” the court remarked.

A Delhi court on Monday had sent Sisodia to five-day CBI custody in the excise policy scam case till March 4 even as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers held protest demonstrations against the BJP-led Central government in several parts of the country over Sisodia’s arrest.

The CBI on Sunday arrested Sisodia in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor excise policy case after eight hours of questioning.

Special judge MK Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Courts, who had reserved his order after arguments from both sides, pronounced his order sending Sisodia to custody till March 4.

AAP leaders and workers on Monday held protest demonstrations across the country against the BJP-led Central government over the arrest of their leader and Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia.

The AAP held protests in various districts of Punjab, UP, Haryana, Maharashtra, Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Mizoram, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Bihar, Odisha among other states and UTs of the country amid heavy police deployment.

In Delhi, thousands of AAP workers and leaders, including party’s senior leader and MLA Ms Atishi, party’s chief spokesperson and MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj and senior leader Adil Ahmad Khan gathered outside the BJP Headquarters to protest against the arrest.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday claimed that many officers of the Central probe agency were against Sisodia’s arrest.

The “political pressure” to arrest Sisodia was so high that they had to obey their “political masters”, Kejriwal added.

 “I am told that most CBI officers were against Manish’s arrest. All of them have huge respect for him and there is no evidence against him. But the political pressure to arrest him was so high that they had to obey their political masters,” the chief minister said in a tweet.