Court questions undue haste in arresting AAP MLA Gulab Singh
A Delhi court on Tuesday pulled up the police for acting in haste to arrest Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Gulab Singh and “hiding important facts from court” while seeking a non-bailable warrant to nab the Matiala legislator.
A Delhi court on Tuesday pulled up the police for acting in haste to arrest Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Gulab Singh and “hiding important facts from court” while seeking a non-bailable warrant to nab the Matiala legislator.
The court rejected police’s plea for a five-day remand of Singh and sent him to 14 days in judicial custody.
Singh’s lawyer, Jitender Solanki, said they will file a bail plea on Wednesday.
A police team had arrested Singh, an accused in an extortion case, on Sunday in Surat, hours before Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s public rally there. He is the 14th AAP MLA to be arrested.
The court said that while applying for a non-bailable warrant the police did not disclose the fact that the his counsel has informed the police in writing on October 10, that Singh is busy in Gujarat and will Delhi on October 18.
The court said, “It was well within the knowledge of the investigation officer (IO) that accused Gulab Singh has been looking after the campaign in Gujarat and a rally was to be convened on October 16. But the police, for reasons best known to them, rushed to Gujarat by a flight and arrested the accused from Gujarat.”
The court observed that it appears accused was diligent enough to join the investigation when he reaches Delhi.
The court said the police could have waited till he returned. “But for reasons, best known to them, they rushed to Delhi by flight to nab the accused..conduct of the police speaks a lot.”
Read: Extortion case: Delhi Police arrest AAP MLA Gulab Singh in Gujarat
Earlier, the public prosecutor demanded police custody of the accused and said that it looks like an organised syndicate to extract money from builders. The prosecutor said the MLA should be sent to police custody as he “can influence the investigation”.
Singh’s laywer said the MLA has already shared his password and e-mail address and will join the investigation whenever needed.
Two property dealers, Deepak Sharma and Rinku Diwan, had alleged last month that Satish and Devinder, who work in Gulab Singh’s office, and an associate Jagdish, were extorting money from them by threatening to get the building from where the property dealers were operating, demolished.
A case under Section 384 (punishment for extortion) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Bindapur police station on September 13.
Read: Non-bailable warrant against AAP MLA Gulab Singh in extortion case
