Kairana’s SP candidate Nahid Hasan arrested under Gangsters Act

Nahid Hasan was wanted in connection with a case registered against him under Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act in Kairana Kotwali in February last year

MEERUT In a major jolt to the Samjawadi Party (SP) ahead of Assembly elections, its candidate from Kairana seat Nahid Hasan was arrested on Saturday by the Uttar Pradesh police under the Gangsters Act.

Kairana’s SP candidate Nahid Hasan (HT file)

Hasan was wanted in connection with a case registered against him under Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act in Kairana Kotwali in February last year. He was produced in the MP/ MLA court of Shamli district and sent to jail for 14 days in judicial custody.

Hasan’s lawyer Raahid Ali said that Samajwadi Party had declared Nahid his candidate from Kairana constituency and he had filed his nomination papers on the first day of the election notification issued on Friday.

“His oath papers could not be filed yesterday. To complete the procedure, Hasan, along with his few supporters, was on the way to Shamli collectorate on Saturday when a team of police arrested him,” said Ali. He said the court would be requested to allow him to do his oath procedure to complete his nomination and later legal proceedings would be initiated for his bail as well.

In the case, MLA Hasan was made prime accused and his mother and former MP Tabassum Begum along with more than two dozen people were mentioned as members of the gang, he added.

Allahabad High Court had granted bail to Tabassum Begum and other accused, but rejected the bail plea of Hasan.

The SP MLA had defeated BJP’s Mriganka Singh by a margin of over 21,000 votes in 2017 Assembly elections amid landslide victory of BJP in the region. However, the BJP has again fielded Mriganka Singh in the fray against Hasan.