AAP MLA Manoj Kumar’s custody extended, accomplice arrested

Two days after Manoj Kumar, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator from Kondli, was arrested and sent to police custody on charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy, the east Delhi police on Saturday arrested his associate, who was absconding.

Two days after Manoj Kumar, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator from Kondli, was arrested and sent to police custody on charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy, the east Delhi police on Saturday arrested his associate, who was absconding.

Kondli MLA Manoj Kumar claims to be innocent and has accused his accomplice of fraud. (Arun Sharma/HT Photo)

Kumar’s accomplice, Lakhpat, was arrested on Satuday morning following information about his presence in east Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar. Lakhpat was produced before the court, which sent him to one-day police custody, police added.

Meanwhile, the Kondli MLA, whose two-day police custody ended on Saturday, was produced before the court on Saturday, where investigators requested extending his police remand. Kumar was not cooperating with them in the probe and spent most of the two-day custody at a hospital after complaining about severe chest pain and headache, the police told the court.

Seeking extension of Kumar’s police custody, investigators told the court that they need to take him and Lakhpat to Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh where the duo prepared forged documents. The court has extended Kumar’s police custody for two more days.

During interrogation Kumar had spilled the beans on Lakhpat and claimed himself innocent in the entire fraud, a police officer said. “He had been accusing Lakhpat for committing the cheating and fraud. Hence, it was necessary for us to nab Lakhpat and confront him and Kumar to ascertain who the prime offender was,” the officer said.