Aam Admi Party (AAP) MlA from Matiala Assembly seat and Gujarat affairs in-charge Gulab Singh Yadav surrendered before Surat Police on Sunday and was arrested by the Delhi Police after a non-bailable warrant (NBW) was issued against him in connection with an extortion case.
The arrest of the AAP MlA hours before Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal public rally in the city evoked sharp response from the party.
Delhi Water Minsiter Kapil Mishra who had gone to attend the Sunday rally, termed Yadav's arrest a turning point in the Gujarat political scene. “Gulab singh arrested hours before historical rally in Surat,” he tweeted. “This was done to prevent Gulab Singh from reaching the rally. The politics of Gujrat will change for ever from today,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, Kejriwal, who is on a four-day visit to Gujarat, alleged while talking to reporters in Vadodara before leaving for Surat that BJP president Amit Shah was trying to hamper the rally. “I appeal to Amit Shah ji that this is not my rally but that of the public ... You see 13 MlAs have been arrested by the Delhi Police on the direction from the BJP,” he said.
“The Delhi Police had come here with a non-bailable warrant against Gulab Singh. He learnt about it before hand and came to Urma police station where we handed him over to the Delhi Police,” Surat Police Commissioner Satish Sharma said.
The Delhi Police will take Yadav to a court to secure a transit remand.
Before leaving for Umra police station to surrender, Yadav told the reporters at the circuit house, “I have learnt that the Delhi Police has come to Surat to arrest me. So I am going to Umra police station to court arrest and ask the Delhi Police to pick me from there.”
“I am in Gujarat since September 6 and I was here when the First Information Report (FIR) was filed against me on September 13. The Delhi Police raided my office and found nothing incriminating. The Centre is directing arrest of AAP MlAs but we are not going to bow and are ready for any consequences,” he said.
Confirming the MlA's arrest, Joint Commissioner of Police, South West Delhi, Deependra Pathak said, “He will be brought back to Delhi today to join the probe in the FIR of extortion in which he has also been named.”
It may noted that two property dealers namely, Deepak Sharma and Rinku Diwan, had alleged that Satish and Devinder, who work in Yadav's office, and an associate Jagdish, were extorting money from them by threatening to get demolished the building from where they were operating.
A complaint to regard was lodged with the West district police last month. Subsequently, a case under section 384 (punishment for extortion) IPC was registered at Bindapur police station on September 13.
The MlA's alleged associates Satish, Devinder and Jagdish were arrested and a probe was taken up in the matter which revealed that the “organised extortion racket” had been operating with the knowledge of the MlA, a Delhi Police official said.
Following the investigation, Yadav was named in the FIR and issued notices to join the investigation but he did not turn up for questioning, the official added.
“Our team was in Surat for two days. He was running away and hiding. He was served several notices but he avoided investigation on one or other pretext,” the Joint CP said.
The NBW was issued against Yadav, who is MlA from Delhi's Matiala, on October 14 for allegedly not joining probe in the case. “The MlA has been arrested under charge of running an extortion racket. There is concrete evidence against him,” Pathak said.
“One of the arrested man worked at office of the MlA. His driver who was driving his personal car with sticker of the legislator was arrested later on the night of September 13 in connection with the extortion,” he said.
Investigation and statements by the arrested accused have revealed that it was an “organised extortion syndicate” with “links” to Yadav. “Investigation so far reveal that he was kingpin of the entire exercise of extortion and its management,” the Joint CP said.