A court here on Sunday sent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Naresh Balyan to two days police custody in an extortion case.
Earlier in the day, the Rouse Avenue Court reserved its orders on pleas of Delhi Police seeking custody of Balyan.
As it produced him before the court, the Delhi Police argued that the AAP leader should be sent to its custody for 5 days for interrogation.
After hearing the arguments, the court reserved its decision on Delhi Police's application for custody of Balyan.
Naresh Balyan, an MLA from Uttam Nagar, was arrested on Saturday after audio clips surfaced, allegedly featuring him talking to gangster Kapil Sangwan, alias Nandu. The purported audio clips reveal plans to threaten and extort money from Delhi builders and others.
At a press conference on Saturday, BJP national Spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia called Balyan an "extortionist" and alleged AAP leaders were conspiring with the gangsters to collect money from the traders and builders for not harming them. He alleged that the Balyan's activities took place with the full knowledge and consent of AAP supremo and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
BJ Party leader Kailash Gahlot Sunday dismissed conspiracy claims made by the party over Balayn's arrest by police, stating that it had been "known to the senior leaders for last one year."
Gahlot raised serious concerns as no action has been reportedly seen from the top AAP leadership, including Kejriwal.
"It would be completely wrong to call this a conspiracy because every senior AAP leader has known about this for the last year. The real question is why no action was taken despite senior party leaders, including the National Convenor, being aware of such activities. It is disturbing that the issue has escalated to this point," he said.
Gahlot slammed AAP's purported principles, saying, "AAP initially used to stress its commitment to three Cs -- Character, Corruption, and Crime. But when senior leaders and MLAs are involved in such incidents, it goes against their founding values. The audio clip is not a snippet; it is a continuous five-to-six-minute conversation that is clearly audible. This is very disturbing and shocking."
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