Tag: Naresh Yadav

One Held for Shooting at AAP MLA Naresh Yadav’s Convoy

Police have ruled out a political angle in the attack. They say the accused Dharamvir had ‘personal enmity’ with Ashok Mann, an AAP supporter who died in the shooting.

New Delhi: A 40-year-old man was arrested for allegedly firing at the convoy of newly-elected AAP MLA Naresh Yadav in southwest Delhi when the latter was returning home after visiting a temple, police said on Wednesday. Though the MLA was unhurt in the attack, which occurred on Tuesday night, a party supporter was killed while another was injured.

Police arrested Dharamvir alias Kalu in the case, claiming there was “enmity” between him and the deceased 45-year-old, Ashok Mann. Police have ruled out any political angle behind the attack. They have also recovered a country-made pistol and two live cartridges, according to PTI.

Additional DCP (southwest) Ingit Pratap Singh said that the police are on the hunt for the two remaining accused persons. He added that the attack occurred on Aruna Asif Ali Road, near Fortis Hospital. “The incident took place due to personal enmity,” he added.

DCP Singh said that ‘the personal dispute’ between the two men, the police officer said that the accused, Dharamvir and the two others, had allegedly threatened Mann a fortnight ago. They were involved in “petty quarrels” and also had a business rivalry, the police claimed.

The attack prompted the newly-reelected AAP government to question the law and order situation in the national capital. The Delhi police reports to the Union home ministry. Expressing concern, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia said, “People responsible for maintaining law and order in Delhi should take action.”

In a tweet in Hindi, party leader Sanjay Singh said, “Convoy of MLA Naresh Yadav attacked in Mehrauli, Ashok Mann killed. Naresh Yadav was returning home after visiting a temple.”

Talking to reporters, Yadav on Tuesday had said that after his victory, he visited a gurdwara and a church in his constituency and later, a temple in Kishangarh village.

While he was returning in an open gypsy car from the village between 10:30 and 10:45 pm, he heard sounds of gunshots, only to realise that his vehicle was attacked.

Police said Mann and Harindar, both AAP supporters, were also in the vehicle.

“The bullet could have hit anyone. Even I could have lost my life. We travel in such open cars every day,” Yadav told reporters. When was asked if there was a political angle to the attack, he refused to comment, saying that the police were probing the case.

In the results for the Delhi assembly elections, announced on Tuesday, the ruling AAP won 62 of the 70 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party won the other eight. Yadav was reelected from the Mehrauli constituency, his second term as an MLA.

(With PTI inputs)

Will AAP’s Young Faces Secure Any Cabinet Ranks?

With four prominent youth leaders having won their seats along with all seven incumbent ministers, the party faces its first dilemma.

New Delhi: With all of its ministers and youth leaders having won elections, a problem of plenty now stares the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as it sits down to formulate its next cabinet. The party bagged 53.57% of the votes and won 62 out of 70 seats in the Delhi assembly elections.

The problem of accommodating dynamic young leaders when senior leaders, already occupying high positions in the government, stake another strong claim is not new to Delhi. This longstanding problem arises because under Article 239AA of the Indian constitution, the number of ministers cannot exceed 10% of seats in the Delhi assembly. Hence, there can be no more than seven ministers in the Delhi government.

All seven ministers retain their seats

This time around, all the seven sitting ministers have won their seats. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal won the New Delhi constituency for the third successive time while deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, after trailing the BJP candidate for hours, sharply recovered his lead to retain Patparganj.

Health and home minister Satyendra Jain from Shakur Basti and labour and development minister Gopal Rai from Babarpur are two other senior government functionaries who won their seats.

Also read: The Fruit of AAP’s Labour

The other three ministers to sail through were water and SC/ST minister Rajendra Pal Gautam from Seemapuri, law and transport minister Kailash Gahlot from Najafgarh, and food and civil supplies minister Imran Hussain from Ballimaran.

With Kejriwal and Sisodia occupying the top two posts, and Gopal Rai and Satyendra Jain being near certain of retaining their seats, there remain only three slots for all the other winning legislators of the party to eye.

One seat each may be kept for a Muslim, SC

There too, one ministerial berth in Delhi has traditionally been kept by parties for a Muslim. With AAP winning all five seats where Muslims constitute over 40% of the population, it remains to be seen if Imran Hussain will be replaced or not.

One serious contender for the post this time would be Okhla legislator Amanatullah Khan. This time he has scored the second-biggest victory for his party by defeating Braham Singh of the BJP by 71,827 votes. The largest victory margin was of AAP candidate Sanjeev Jha, who won by 88,158 votes from Burari.

With AAP also winning all the 10 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes in Delhi, it would be interesting to see if it would replace its SC/ST minister Gautam with one of the other candidates, if it decides to retain one slot in the cabinet for a member of the reserved category.

That effectively leaves just one open slot on the cabinet for the numerous young and bright leaders of the party who have won.

Youth leaders make a strong case for cabinet berth

One of the most articulate and popular faces among them is Atishi. The Oxford-educated leader was one of the architects of the education reforms in her capacity as an advisor to Sisodia. A member of the Political Affairs Committee of the party, she has now won from the Kalkaji constituency.

Also read: With Another Win in Delhi, Is Arvind Kejriwal Moving to the National Pulpit?

Similarly, Raghav Chadha, who won from the Rajinder Nagar constituency, is a practising chartered accountant who is also the national treasurer and spokesperson for AAP.

Saurabh Bharadwaj is another young face of the party. He was a minister in the 49-day government that was formed after the 2013 win and shot to prominence after he demonstrated, in the Delhi assembly, how electronic voting machines could be hacked. The claim was denied by the Election Commission.

Another claimant for a cabinet position this time is Dilip Pandey, the convenor of Delhi unit of AAP, who won from Timarpur by 24,144 votes. A Poorvanchali leader, his claim to a ministerial berth is likely to be strong since AAP is now nurturing national ambitions and would like to send out a strong message in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Shots Fired at AAP MLA Naresh Yadav’s Convoy, One Volunteer Killed

The party has identified the slain volunteer as Ashok Mann. Another volunteer was injured in the attack.

New Delhi: Unidentified people fired at Aam Aadmi Party MLA Naresh Yadav’s convoy in southwest Delhi’s Kishangarh village late on Tuesday night, killing one party volunteer.

Yadav and his supporters were returning home after paying obeisance at a temple in his constituency, the police said. Seven rounds were reportedly fired at the convoy.

One person injured and admitted to Fortis Hospital, police said. An FIR has been registered.

In a tweet, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh identified the slain volunteer as Ashok Mann. “Convoy of MLA Naresh Yadav attacked in Mehrauli, Ashok Mann killed. Naresh Yadav was returning home after visiting a temple,” Singh said in a tweet in Hindi.

The party too confirmed this in a tweet, saying it had lost a “family member”.

The attacked occurred hours after AAP won the Delhi assembly elections by a landslide. The party won 62 of the 70 seats in the assembly, with the Bharatiya Janata Party winning the other eight. Yadav was elected from the Mehrauli constituency for the second time.

“The incident is really unfortunate. I do not know the reason behind the attack but it happened all of a sudden. Around 4 rounds were fired. The vehicle I was in was attacked. I am sure if Police inquires properly, they will be able to identify the assailant,” ANI quoted Yadav as saying.

Yadav said that he could have been killed. “Two people were shot in which Ashok Mann Ji has died and Harender Ji was injured. I do not know whether they attacked me in particular but they certainly targeted our convoy. Anybody could have been shot in this attack including me,” he said.

The police has claimed that the target was not Yadav but Mann, and that there was one assailant.

AAP has in the past criticised the police for not managing law and order in the union territory as it should. The Delhi police comes under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

(With PTI inputs)

AAP MLAs in Jail: Lawbreakers or Victims of Modi Vendetta?

After the arrest of its Okhla legislator Amanatullah Khan, the Aam Aadmi Party has said there is a ‘dharm yudh’ between the Kauravas (BJP) and the Pandavas (AAP) going on.

After the arrest of its Okhla legislator Amanatullah Khan, the Aam Aadmi Party has said there is a ‘dharm yudh‘ between the Kauravas (BJP) and the Pandavas (AAP) going on.

Amanatullah Khan. Credit: Twitter

Amanatullah Khan, AAP MLA from Okhla arrested on July 23. Credit: Twitter

New Delhi: With 10 of his 67 party MLAs now under arrest on various charges, an exasperated Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter on July 23.

His message was clear – he feels his party legislators are being deliberately targeted by the BJP.

On the day Okhla legislator Amanatullah Khan became the 10th MLA from the Aam Aadmi Party to be arrested, Kejriwal also retweeted an AAP News Alert message which described his war against the Narendra Modi led BJP as a ‘dharm yudh‘ (holy war) between the Kauravas (BJP) and the Pandavas (AAP).

Every time an AAP MLA has been arrested, the party has jumped to his or her defence. The only exception was former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti. After he was arrested in a domestic violence case in December 2015, Kejriwal termed him an embarrassment.

The Delhi police, which has been described as a tool in the hands of the Modi government by the AAP and its leaders, has often stated that 23 of the 67 party MLAs were facing criminal charges dating back to 2010 and this was one of the reasons behind their arrest.

The Wire takes a look at all the MLAs who have been arrested so far, the charges against them and the claims and counterclaims pertaining to the case.

Amanatullah Khan

On July 23, Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan was arrested after a woman alleged that a vehicle he was sitting in tried to mow her down. She recorded her statement before a magistrate on July 22 under Section 164 of the Criminal Penal Code. Earlier, she had alleged on July 19 that a youth had abused and threatened her at the MLA’s residence for raising a power supply issue. Khan was booked and arrested under Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a non-bailable charge. Reacting to his arrest, Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “Modi ji arrests one more AAP MLA”.

Naresh Yadav

Earlier on July 23, Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav was arrested by the Punjab police from his residence in connection with the alleged desecration of the Quran in Malerkotla on June 24.

The Punjab police, which had earlier questioned him twice, booked the AAP MLA for promoting enmity between different groups (Section 153A) and abetment (Section 109) of the IPC. They claimed that the prime accused in the case, Vijay, said that he had met Yadav before the crime and they had also spoken several times over the phone. Yadav claimed it was a “political conspiracy” to malign AAP’s image ahead of the 2017 assembly elections in Punjab.

Prakash Jarwal

On July 9, Deoli MLA Prakash Jarwal was arrested on charges of misbehaving with a woman.

Jarwal, who was also arrested in May 2014 for beating up a Delhi Jal Board engineer, claimed that the woman was like a mother to him and that he has been accused as part of a “political game” to defame his party. Jarwal was booked under sections 354, 506, 508 and 34 of the IPC. The BJP had used his case to assert that AAP leaders had no respect for women. BJP party leader in the Delhi assemply Vijender Gupta had said that AAP leaders were emboldened because chief minister Arvind Kejriwal defended even their unruly actions.

Dinesh Mohaniya

On June 25, Sangam Vihar MLA Dinesh Mohaniya was arrested for misbehaving with a woman and slapping a senior citizen. The allegation against him was that he had slapped the 60-year-old man because the latter had failed to recognise him when he was visiting a locality in Tughlakabad. Mohaniya was subsequently booked for voluntarily causing hurt (Section 323), wrongful restraint (341) and act done by several persons (34) of the IPC. He pleaded innocence and accused the BJP of raking up the issue to divert attention from the M.M. Khan murder case.

In the other case, a FIR was lodged against Mohaniya, who is also the vice chairman of the Delhi Jal Board, after he was accused of misbehaving with women in his office when they went to complain about irregular water supply. Mohaniya was booked for criminal intimidation (section 506), word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman (section 509) and voluntarily causing hurt (section 323).

Mohaniya had also claimed that he was being targeted for taking on the water mafia.

Mahendra Yadav

Vikaspuri MLA Mahendra Yadav was arrested on January 29, 2015 along with his supporter, Rohan Pandit, for allegedly obstructing traffic on the main Nihal Vihar-Najafgarh road while protesting against the rape of a minor girl.

As he was booked for rioting (sections 147, 148), obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions (section 186), assault on a public servant (353) and damage to public property, AAP leaders took to Twitter to slam Delhi police for their action, saying, “It is now a crime in Delhi to protest against the rape of a minor when the police refuses to register an FIR against rape accused”.

The police, on the other hand, accused Yadav of instigating the crowd to violence and leading to a riot.

Somnath Bharti

Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti was arrested in a domestic violence and attempt to murder case on December 25, 2015, hours after he surrendered in connection with a complaint filed by his wife. Bharti surrendered after the Supreme Court ordered him to give himself up.

The former Delhi law minister had also courted a number of controversies during the 49-day AAP government in 2014, including his infamous midnight raid on African nationals in Khirki Extension, in which several women had accused him of misbehaviour or molestation.

Bharti’s wife Lipika had accused him of domestic violence and attempt to murder. He was subsequently booked for attempt to murder (section 307), cheating and dishonesty (420), punishment for criminal breach of trust (406), punishment for cheating (417), causing miscarriage without woman’s consent (313), voluntarily causing hurt (324), husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty (498-A) and criminal intimidation (506).

Prior to his surrender, AAP had asked Bharti to “immediately” give himself up to avoid “further embarrassment” to the party, while Kejriwal – who had defended him on several occasions in the past – this time termed him an “embarrassment”.

Akhilesh Tripathi

On November 26, 2015, Model Town MLA Akhilesh Tripathi was arrested in a 2013 case of rioting and criminal intimidation after a metropolitan magistrate ordered the Delhi police to take the legislator into custody, “so that his appearance could be secured and the case be tried expeditiously as per the Supreme Court directions as it relates to a sitting MLA”.

The court had earlier on November 23 issued an arrest warrant against the MLA for not appearing before it in the case.

Sarita Singh

On November 22, 2015, Rohtash Nagar MLA Sarita Singh was booked for misbehaving with a police official on duty. The police claimed that her driver had hit a police official’s motorbike while reversing his car and as an argument broke out between the driver and the officer, the MLA intervened and allegedly abused the assistant sub inspector. Subsequently, a case was registered for obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions (section 186), rash driving (279) and criminal intimidation (506) of the IPC. The MLA was, however, not arrested.

Surender Singh

On August 21, 2015, Delhi Cantonment MLA Surender Singh was arrested for allegedly making casteist remarks against an NDMC sanitary inspector. A former commando, Singh was arrested along with his driver Praveen and assistant Pankaj for allegedly making casteist remarks against Ram Jeevan Meena, who belonged to a Scheduled Caste, and of obstructing him during an anti-encroachment check near Race Course Road. Meena also accused Singh and his driver of punching NDMC worker Mukesh Kumar.

The MLA, who as a commando had participated in the Mumbai 26/11 operations, claimed that the complaint had been lodged to deliberately “tarnish” his image and insisted that he was only trying to save a poor vegetable vendor. His associates accused the police of manhandling him.

Senior AAP leader Ashutosh had tweeted: “Modi govt protects corrupts of CNG Fitness scam and arrests patriot commando Surender who faced bullets of terrorists during 26/11 attack (sic)”.

Manoj Kumar

On July 10, 2015, Kondli MLA Manoj Kumar was arrested in a case of cheating and land grabbing.

The MLA was booked for cheating (section 420), forgery for purpose of cheating (468) and using as genuine a forged document (471) of the IPC after the complainant, Vinod Kumar, alleged that he had paid Rs 6 lakh to Manoj to purchase a plot in 2012 but the latter had not returned the amount.

The complainant had alleged that Manoj Kumar – who was a property dealer before entering politics – had produced fake proprietorship documents of a plot in Kondli, which was actually owned by one M.L. Verma. He had then accepted Rs 6 lakh from Vijay Kumar, as part payment of Rs 21 lakh.

Both the Congress and the BJP had demanded action against the accused and stressed the need for quickly filling the post of Lokayukta, which was lying vacant then, to deal with such complaints.

Jitendra Singh Tomar

On June 9, 2015, Delhi law minister Jitendra Singh Tomar was arrested in fake degree case. He was booked for cheating and fraud after a university from Bhagalpur in Bihar submitted before a Delhi court that the AAP legislator was never on its rolls, despite claiming to possess a degree issued by it.

Reacting to the developments, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, had tweeted: “Emergency-like situation in Delhi. Is he a terrorist, has he set off a bomb in Delhi to be arrested? Mr. Tomar has been arrested to deter Delhi Government to act against corruption.”

The reasoning did not find support with former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav, who started the NGO Swaraj Abhiyan after being expelled from AAP. He tweeted that he and Prashant Bhushan had raised the question of Tomar around four months earlier. “If his degrees are genuine, why not make them public? Why hide behind court procedures?” he asked.

Yadav further stated, “The real issue is not technicalities of Tomar’s arrest; that’s for courts to decide. Issue here is govt’s and party’s refusal to come clean”.