Bassi says AAP MLA on the run, court denies bail
Delhi police commissioner BS Bassi Tuesday said that Aam Aadmi Party’s Tilak Nagar MLA Jarnail Singh is evading the law after allegedly assaulting a civic engineer last week.
Bassi said Singh had filed an anticipatory bail to avoid arrest but it was “rejected” following which he went into hiding and is “absconding now”.
An FIR was registered against Singh and his supporters at the Tilak Nagar police station on April 28 on a complaint filed by South Delhi Municipal Corporation junior engineer Athar Mustafa, who was assaulted by them during the demolition of an illegal building in west Delhi’s Krishna Park Extension area.
Mustafa had told Hindustan Times that when Singh was shown documents authorising a demolition, Singh tore them up and threatened to frame him in a false corruption case.
Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay said the “culture of impunity” was on the rise in Delhi since AAP assumed office. “If he (Singh) has not committed any crime he should surrender,” he said.
Singh is the fifth AAP leader to be booked by the police in less than three months.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday declined to give immediate protection against arrest to AAP MLA Jarnail Singh.
Seeking a status report from Delhi police on the incident, including on Singh’s plea seeking anticipatory bail, justice Sunita Gupta said she will hear Singh’s petition on Wednesday.
The Tilak Nagar legislator is facing arrest after his anticipatory bail was rejected by the trial court.
The trial court on Saturday had rejected Singh’s anticipatory bail plea, after which he moved the high court.
Senior advocate HS Phoolka, appearing for Singh, said his client should not be arrested as most of the charges under which FIR has been registered are bailable offence and nothing is required to be recovered from him.
Phoolka claimed that Singh has been falsely implicated in the case at the behest of his political rivals.
Phoolka said it was not a case where custodial interrogation was necessary.
“There is no need of custodial interrogation. Singh has been falsely implicated in the case. He was the one who had made police complaints about the incident. After the FIR registered, Singh was present in the police station from 4 pm to 10 pm and was neither detained nor arrested,” Phoolka argued.
THERE IS NO NEED OF CUSTODIAL INTERROGATION. JARNAIL SINGH HAS BEEN FALSELY IMPLICATED. HE WAS THE ONE WHO HAD MADE POLICE COMPLAINTS.
HS PHOOLKA, senior lawyer representing Jarnail Singh