New Delhi
The Delhi high court on Monday sought Delhi Police’s response to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Naresh Balyan’s plea seeking bail in connection with a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) case lodged against him over alleged links with UK-based gangster Kapil Sangwan.
A bench of justice Vikas Mahajan issued notice on the Uttam Nagar MLA’s plea and fixed January 23 as the next date of hearing. “Issue notice. Let a status report be filed by the Delhi Police,” the court said in the order.
Balyan was arrested by Delhi Police on December 4, 2024, in a case lodged by the anti-gang squad of the Crime Branch in Dwarka, involving allegations of organised crime and extortion, shortly after he got bail in an alleged extortion case. The extortion case stemmed from a May 31, 2022, incident when a complainant received threatening messages from a caller claiming to be Kapil Sangwan. The caller allegedly demanded ₹1 crore and threatened the complainant with dire consequences if the amount was not paid.
During Monday’s hearing, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, representing Balyan, urged the court to release his client on interim bail, contending that the same was imperative to help his wife for the upcoming polls, who is contesting the elections on an AAP ticket from the Vikaspuri constituency. Voting for the assembly elections will take place on February 5 and the results will be declared on February 8. He further submitted that his client’s custody was not required since the police failed to make a case against him.
{{/usCountry}}During Monday’s hearing, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, representing Balyan, urged the court to release his client on interim bail, contending that the same was imperative to help his wife for the upcoming polls, who is contesting the elections on an AAP ticket from the Vikaspuri constituency. Voting for the assembly elections will take place on February 5 and the results will be declared on February 8. He further submitted that his client’s custody was not required since the police failed to make a case against him.
{{/usCountry}}However, justice Mahajan said that the matter required consideration and fixed January 23 as the next date of hearing. “It requires consideration. We can have (it) prior to elections. Let’s have it on Thursday (23rd January),” justice Mahajan told Pahwa.
Balyan approached the high court against a city court’s January 15 order rejecting his bail on the grounds that police had sufficient material to indicate the legislator’s nexus with an “organised crime syndicate” and his engagement in continuing unlawful activities as a syndicate member. Taking note of the investigation’s “initial stage”, special judge Kaveri Baweja, in her 32-page order, observed that Balyan’s release on bail would hamper the probe.
In his petition in the high court, Balyan contended his arrest was “frivolous”, based on past FIRs and confessional statements given by two co-accused, in the absence of specific or fresh allegations against him. The plea went on to add that the FIR neither disclosed a specific criminal act committed by him nor named him as an accused.
Delhi Police, represented by public prosecutor Laksh Khanna, opposed the petition pointing out that the co-accused in the case allegedly confessed to having worked on Sangwan’s directions and that Balyan was the “facilitator/conspirator” in the organised crime syndicate. These statements are admissible in evidence, Delhi Police submitted.