AAP MLA Naresh Balyan arrested for ‘exortion’

The five-minute audio clip purportedly is a conversation between Balyan and fugitive gangster Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu and it was later shared widely on social media.

The Delhi Police on Saturday evening arrested Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) member of legislative assembly (MLA) Naresh Balyan, in connection with a year-old extortion case. The arrest of Uttam Nagar MLA took place after a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member shared an audio clip in a press conference on Saturday and Balyan was purportedly heard instructing a gangster to extort money from a builder and other individuals.

Naresh Balyan

The AAP, however, condemned the arrest and slammed the BJP for “orchestrating a baseless conspiracy to divert attention from the crumbling law and order situation in the Capital.”

The five-minute audio clip purportedly is a conversation between Balyan and fugitive gangster Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu and it was later shared widely on social media.

HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the purported audio clip. A crime branch officer, who asked not to be named, however, confirmed that the audio contained conversation between Balyan and gangster Kapil Sangwan, who is the kingpin of the Nandu gang

“We served a notice to AAP MLA Naresh Balyan today (Saturday) evening, asking him to join the probe related to extortion case that was registered last year in Dwarka. Balyan joined the probe but did not cooperate during the questioning. Hence, we arrested him. He will be produced before the Delhi court tomorrow (Sunday),” DCP (crime) Sanjay Kumar Sain said.

Senior AAP leader & Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said that that the entire case revolves around threats that Balyan himself had reported last year. “In July 2023, he received threats from gangster Kapil Sangwan. He lodged multiple complaints with the police regarding these threats and the harassment and intimidation he faced... Acting on these complaints, the Delhi Police even provided him with security. The audio clip has no authenticity, and the Delhi high court has imposed a stay on it,” Singh said.

To be sure, the high court in August 2023 had upheld a city court’s order, restraining news channel Times Now Navbharat from telecasting a programme that used the audio clip in question.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva, in a public meeting in Najafgarh, said, “In the morning, we presented an audio clip of the conversation between Uttam Nagar MLA Naresh Balyan and a gangster, in which the gangster was being advised. The results are evident as Delhi Police has detained Balyan today.”