QURAN SACRILEGE ACCUSED SAYS COPS FORCED HIM TO NAME AAP MLA

SANGRUR: The main accused in the June 24 burning of Quran and subsequent violence in Muslim-dominated Malerkotla, Vijay Kumar, took a U-turn on Thursday by alleging that the police had forced him to name Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi legislator Naresh Yadav in the case.

Earlier, Vijay had said that he had carried out the burning at the behest of Yadav, who was his “friend”. After this, the Mehrauli MLA was arrested for his suspected role in the desecration, and is currently out on bail.

He too claimed to be innocent. “I have sufficient evidence to prove myself innocent. All which was said earlier was due to police torture,” he said. Reacting to his statement, Sangrur SSP Pritpal Singh Thind said: “The culprits often claim innocence during the trial. I don’t want to make any comment at this stage since the matter is sub judice.”

Vijay made his latest claim when he was produced in the local court for a scheduled hearing of the case. He told the media that his earlier statement had been recorded under police pressure. “I was threatened and tortured by the police to say Yadav was involved,” he said.

Meanwhile, during the proceedings, Yadav’s advocate, Harpal Singh Cheema, demanded the purported confessional statement of the co-accused in the case and copies of call details of Naresh Yadav and his brother.