A Delhi court awarded a one-year sentence to a man, who had claimed to be the personal assistant to an Aam Aadmi Party MLA for extorting money from a fair price shop salesman.
The case dates back to August 2015 when Sandeep Kumar, a salesman at a fair price shop in Delhi’s Kalyanpuri, informed police that Dinesh Kumar, a man claiming to be a personal assistant of local MLA Manoj Kumar, threatened to seal the shop if he did not pay him ₹2,000 every month. Dinesh further told the salesman that this money will go to the MLA.
The police had earlier chargesheeted both Dinesh and MLA Kumar, but the MLA was discharged at the stage of framing of charges as the police did not have “any admissible evidence”.
MLA Kumar had earlier said the accused was not his PA. “He must have been one of the volunteers. Once we got to know that he was involved in extortion, he was removed,” Kumar had said.
The court also dismissed Dinesh’s application to be released on probation for good conduct. It noted that Dinesh had admitted that he “belonged to the AAP and was a part of the vigilance committee of fair price shops headed by MLA Kumar.”
{{/usCountry}}The court also dismissed Dinesh’s application to be released on probation for good conduct. It noted that Dinesh had admitted that he “belonged to the AAP and was a part of the vigilance committee of fair price shops headed by MLA Kumar.”
{{/usCountry}}“Therefore, it was his duty to check the unfair practices, if any, in those shops and not to turn a blind eye on them after extorting money from them. On the contrary, he started extorting money from those shopkeepers,” said the judge.
He further observed that Dinesh is convicted of extortion which is a serious offence and “he has acted in complete disobedience of law and faith repose in him by those who appointed him to that position”.
The court granted Dinesh a bail of 30 days, till July 20, after he submitted that he wants to appeal against the conviction in a higher court.
Despite several attempts, AAP spokespersons did not respond to request for comment.
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