New Delhi: On 5 July last year, an FIR was lodged on the complaint of Delhi businessman Gurucharan Singh, who had claimed that he had received an extortion call for Rs 1 crore from UK-based gangster Kapil Sangwan of the Nandu gang. The case, registered with the local police, was transferred to the Crime Branch unit.
Over a year later, on Saturday evening, Naresh Balyan, an Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Uttam Nagar in West Delhi, was arrested in connection with the case after being questioned for the first time. Balyan was not named in the FIR.
Police sources said that the legislator was arrested after he did not cooperate with the investigating team during the interrogation. Balyan was being questioned in connection with audio clips, allegedly of a conversation between Balyan and Sangwan, aired by a news channel during a programme on 17 August last year, that resurfaced on social media Saturday.
Incidentally, hours before the arrest, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a press conference, playing audio clips allegedly of Balyan and the wanted gangster planning to extort the businessman and claiming that a nexus is brewing between gangsters and politicians of AAP.
The clip, which the police are treating as crucial evidence, was not sent for forensic probe until recently, according to Balyan’s counsel, Ajay Sharma. The police submitted in court that the investigating team had just received the clip in question, but Sharma said they had had the clip in possession for a long time. The forensic report is still pending.
“How can a delay in investigation act in my prejudice? This shows the inefficiency of the police,” Sharma said in court.
The lawyer called the arrest “politically motivated”. He told ThePrint, “He (Balyan) was questioned just once in the matter. He was never questioned since the audio had surfaced and the FIR was lodged a year ago. This is a political stunt. The Crime Branch team came to his house after the BJP press conference and arrested him. Everything is out in the open.”
What the police said seeking remand
In the note seeking 5-day police remand for Balyan, Delhi Police said that the audio clip was doing the rounds on social media Saturday and “there was some resentment amongst the general public that elected members are also now involved in extortion, along with dreaded criminals, and how businessmen will run businesses and common men will survive in the society”.
The police added that while Balyan answered some questions initially, he stopped cooperating with the team and “flatly refused to answer”.
The investigating team sought his remand to “unearth the conspiracy” regarding the involvement of other persons in the extortion syndicate and the “nexus” between Sangwan and Balyan, analyse modes of payment, and trace the finances, recovery and examination of mobile phones used. Moreover, the police said that his police custody is required not just for interrogation, but also to collect a voice sample to fix Sangwan’s location and identify other victims.
The court remanded Balyan to a two-day police custody Sunday.
Court documents also revealed that Balyan had submitted five police complaints against Sangwan, accusing him of threatening him between December 2022 and July 2023. Court records showed that the Special Cell of Delhi Police had sought the original clip of the news episode and certification confirming that it was Kapil Sangwan indeed. Balyan’s lawyer said that no FIR was lodged on Balyan’s complaints against Sangwan.
In the audio clip there are two voices, purportedly those of Sangwan and Balyan discussing Gurucharan and another businessman. There was also a video clip of a person claiming to be Sangwan and saying that Balyan provided details of the businessmen to the Nandu gang, followed by another clip of a ‘sting operation’, where Gurucharan’s son Sachin confirmed the extortion demand from Sangwan.
So far, during the interrogation, sources said, Balyan has said that Sangwan made around 40 calls to threaten him. “This is an extremely sensitive matter. Balyan has said that Sangwan was threatening him, but the audio clips suggest otherwise,” a source told ThePrint.
Asked about the evidence against Balyan, an officer said, “The audio clips are in public domain and the allegations are serious. We are investigating all angles”.
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