AAP MLA sent to 2-day police custody in land-grabbing case
10 July 2015 6:20 AM IST
Kumar is the second MLA of AAP to be arrested. On June 9, former Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar was arrested on charges of possessing fake degrees. According to the police, the case under the Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) was registered against Kumar at the New Ashok Nagar police station on May 19, 2014. Since then, he was summoned at least thrice but joined the probe only once.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Saurabh Pratap Singh <g data-gr-id="39">Laler</g> sent Kumar to police custody till July 11, after the investigating agency said some recoveries were to be made from him.
“Kumar was summoned under Section 160 of the CrPc and was detained. He was produced before a city court. The police sought seven days’ remand for him, saying that he needed to be interrogated and several recoveries, including documents, money and stamps, have to be made from him. But the court granted only two days’ police remand,” said a senior police official.
The police custody plea was opposed by senior advocate HS Phoolka, who appeared for Kumar, saying that no notice was issued to the MLA and he had joined the investigation whenever he was called to the police station.
Phoolka argued that the FIR was lodged on May 19, <g data-gr-id="43">2014,</g> and asked why the police did not arrest Kumar earlier. He also alleged that Kumar was a victim of differences between the Delhi government and the Delhi Police. He added that no recoveries were required to be made from Kumar.
The case was registered against Kumar, following a complaint by one Vijay Kumar, alleging that Manoj Kumar and his business partner Lakhpat had duped him of Rs 6 lakh. The complainant told police that Manoj Kumar used to work as a property dealer before venturing into politics. In November 2012, Vijay paid Rs 6 lakh as a token money to Manoj to buy a plot of worth Rs 21,60,000. But when Vijay asked him to do the <g data-gr-id="56">registery</g> of the plot, Manoj started ignoring him and later threatened him of dire consequences.
In the FIR, Vijay has stated that before the plot deal was done, <g data-gr-id="55">Monoj</g> and Lakhpat had told him that the plot belongs to Manoj. After a few months, when Kumar started ignoring him, he smelt foul and found that the plot belonged to one ML Singh, a resident of Rajveer Nagar. When Vijay contacted Singh, he told him that he had never sold the land. Vijay, then, approached Manoj, who boasted of his powerful (MLA) position and threatened him of dire consequences. In May 2014, Vijay filed a complaint against him.
Police said as many as seven cases, including cheating and assault, are registered against the MLA.
AAP slams Centre for MLA’s arrest
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) slammed the Centre over the arrest of its MLA Manoj Kumar. It has accused the BJP-led Centre of indulging in revenge politics and alleged that the Delhi Police are being used by the BJP as a “political weapon”. The AAP reiterated that the party is ready to face the challenge. Lashing out at the BJP, the party said there have been so many deaths in the Vyapam scam and still there has been no arrest, whereas the police are showing promptness in arresting AAP leaders.
“The case pertains to May 2014. Since then, there has been no investigation or summons. This is nothing but vindictiveness. The police are being used as a political weapon against us and we are ready for it,” said AAP spokesperson Deepak Bajpai. “AAP leaders are waiting to know when will they be arrested at <g data-gr-id="83">Naredra</g> Modi's behest. Most of the time, if the case pertains to land and money, usually the police ask people to approach the civil court. In this case (Manoj Kumar), the police have shown promptness, but failed to show the same in the Vyapam case, where many influential people are involved," said senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh.
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