NEW DELHI: The fiery leader of India’s capital lashed out at the New Delhi police on Monday, accusing the force of targeting the poor for petty offenses but refusing to combat serious crime.

New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who took office in December on a promise to sweep out corruption and look after the common man, is widely believed to have his eye on control over the city’s police force. The police now report to the federal government.

Kejriwal organized a protest by hundreds of supporters Monday, in direct defiance of police orders not to hold a public assembly. The move comes as he gears up for this year’s national elections, which are expected to take place by May.

Kejriwal’s upstart Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man’s Party, did surprisingly well in the state elections last month and he will likely be a serious player in the national polls. The party has tapped into the disgust of ordinary Indians as the country sees a stream of corruption scandals.

“We want all the people of Delhi to come here to protest against Delhi police,” Kejriwal said Monday, adding that he and his supporters will continue to demonstrate against the police for 10 days. He accused the police of taking money from rickshaw drivers for minor offenses, but doing little to fight lawlessness.

The dispute started when the Delhi police refused a demand by Delhi’s Law Minister Somnath Bharti — a key Kejriwal aide — to arrest two Ugandan and two Nigerian women. Bharti accused the women of selling drugs.

But the police refused to make the arrests, saying they had no warrant.

When Kejriwal threatened to march on the national Home Ministry, police on Sunday gave orders temporarily banning any gathering on nearby roads.

On Monday, a defiant Kejriwal and his supporters reached the road leading to the home ministry, but were stopped by police barricades.

No violence was reported, but police closed several subway stations along the march’s route and blocked off roads.

S.P.S. Tyagi, a top Delhi police official, said authorities have asked Kejriwal to hold the protest at a plaza in central Delhi where the public will not be inconvenienced.