New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ordered bail for former Bahujan Samaj Party MLC Mohammed Haji Iqbal’s four sons, whose latest arrest was on 13 August, while also instructing the Uttar Pradesh government not to take them into custody in any new FIR lodged hereinafter.
Disposing a petition filed by Iqbal’s sons, namely Wazid, Javed, Afzal and Alishan, the apex court Friday noted their apprehensions that they might be arrested in a new case after their release.
The four were arrested 13 August, just a day after the Allahabad High Court granted them bail in a case registered in 2022.
In its order, a bench of Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran said, “It is further added that the respondents (Uttar Pradesh police) shall not arrest the petitioners in any of the FIR(s) which will be lodged hereinafter without the leave of this Court.”
Iqbal was an MLC from BSP between 2011-2017 and is believed to be hiding in Dubai after the CBI launched a probe in 2019 against him in mining-related cases in Saharanpur.
His four son were arrested in a case of gang rape filed in October last year. Their uncle, Mahmud Ali, has also been arrested in this case. The accused have been alleging that the Uttar Pradesh police have been filing cases one after another to keep them languishing in jail.
In a writ petition filed before the Supreme Court last year, the accused, represented by senior advocates Siddarth Dave and Mohammed Zahid Hussain, argued that there were as many as 32 cases against them and their family.
Out of these, 10 cases have been quashed by the court at different levels, while two have ended in acquittals, followed by the police filing a closure report in one case, they said.
During a hearing on the writ petition, the accused alleged that hours after the Allahabad High Court granted them bail on 12 August in a case, the Saharanpur district police filed another case under 308 (2) (punishment for extortion), and 351 (3) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita.
The Allahabad High Court bail had come in an FIR registered on 2 October last year, they said, adding the Uttar Pradesh Police was preparing to register this case after it got an inkling that they were set to get bail 1 October in the 2022 case.
They alleged the police want to keep them languishing in jail.
Haji Iqbal has been absconding since the CBI booked him in September 2019 in a case registered to probe his alleged role in illegal renewals of sand mining leases by authorities in collusion with lease-holders.
The Enforcement Directorate has also initiated a money laundering investigation against him and attached the land and buildings of Glocal University in Saharanpur, which spans a 121-acre land parcel worth approximately Rs 4,400 crore.
It was allegedly run in the name of Abdul Waheed Educational and Charitable Trust, which was controlled and managed by Iqbal and his family members.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
Also Read: Mayawati strives to rebrand self, BSP ahead of key assembly bypolls, one move at a time