Allahabad HC grants bail to ex-SP MLA Irfan Solanki in 2022 extortion case

Allahabad HC grants bail to ex-SP MLA Irfan Solanki and brother Rizwan in an extortion case, but they remain jailed due to pending cases.

The Allahabad high court on Monday granted bail to former Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Irfan Solanki and his brother Rizwan Solanki in an extortion case pending in Kanpur Nagar.

An FIR was lodged against the applicants on February 6, 2022 alleging that the accused wanted to take possession of the land of some poor persons . (For Representation)

The bail application was filed on behalf of the applicants in the criminal case registered in 2022 under section 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Jajmau police station of Kanpur Nagar.

An FIR was lodged against the applicants on February 6, 2022 alleging that the accused wanted to take possession of the land of some poor persons and an objection was made by the informant. Thereafter, they threatened the informant and demanded ₹10 lakh from informant Akeel Ahmad.

Appearing on behalf of the applicants, their counsel Imran Ullah submitted that the applicants were innocent and had been falsely implicated in the case. At the time of incident applicant Irfan Solanki was an MLA and he had been targeted due to political enmity, his counsel submitted. Besides, the applicant had been in jail since January 4, 2023.

While granting bail to the applicants, Justice Raj Beer Singh said, “The applicant Irfan Solanki has already undergone detention of more than two years. The applicant has previous criminal history of nine cases and after this case he was shown involved in nine more cases.”

“In the case of Prabhakar Tewari Vs Stat of UP 2020 (11) SCC 648, the Supreme Court has observed that pendency of several criminal cases against an accused may itself cannot be a basis for refusal of bail. Considering nature of accusations coupled with argument that no case under section 386 IPC, and period of detention, the bail application of applicant is not liable to be rejected merely on the ground of criminal history and conviction,” the court said.

Though the bail has been granted to Irfan Solanki and his brother Rizwan in the present case of extortion, they will not walk out of jail because other criminal cases are pending against them and they have to yet obtain bail in those cases.