AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal addressed a press conference at AAP HQ in New Delhi on Sunday, December 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday (December 1, 2024) lashed out at the BJP over the arrest of AAP’s Uttam Nagar MLA Naresh Balyan in connection with an extortion case registered last year.
The arrest was made hours after senior BJP leaders held a press conference where they shared a purported audio clip in which, they claimed, the ruling party MLA can be heard talking to notorious gangster Kapil Sangwan “about collecting ransom money from businessmen”.
The AAP chief dismissed the BJP’s allegations and claimed that Mr. Balyan is a “victim of gangster Kapil Sangwan”.
“Yesterday an MLA of ours was arrested. He was a victim of gangsters and had gotten calls from gangsters for extortion. He had sent a written complaint to the Delhi Police that he was getting calls from a gangster Kapil Sangwan about one-and-a-half years ago,” said Mr. Kejriwal.
Reading out the purported complaint, Mr. Kejriwal said that the gangster also wanted the MLA to call people for extortion, but he had refused to it.
“MLA Naresh Balyan is a victim of gangster Kapil Sangwan. Instead of arresting the gangster, Delhi Police yesterday arrested Naresh Balyan,” the AAP chief said.
“Amit Shah has send a message by arresting Naresh Balyan that ‘if you complaint, you will be arrested’. And for gangsters the message is that ‘I’m here to save you’,” he added.
“I want to tell Amit Shah that if he has courage, then arrest these gangsters,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
He also said that there won’t be any alliance in Delhi for the Assembly polls due in February.
Published – December 01, 2024 01:15 pm IST
