A Delhi court on Friday sent AAP MLA Naresh Balyan to judicial custody till January 9 in connection with a case lodged against him under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
The court rejected the Delhi Police’s request for 10 days of custody, which they sought to identify other associates who are allegedly a part of a crime “syndicate” along with Balyan. “The names of nine persons linked to Balyan have surfaced during investigation,” Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Akhand Pratap Singh, representing the Delhi Police, told the court.
The police, which had also sought Balyan’s custody to confront him about absconding members of the alleged syndicate, told the court that he was not disclosing their names.
Rejecting the police’s request, Special Judge Kaveri Baweja said, “I also find that the extension of police custody remand cannot be granted for confrontation of the accused with other members of the syndicate who are admittedly still absconding. There can be no certainty as to when and if at all they would be arrested and therefore, it cannot be a ground to seek extension of police custody of the accused that he has to be confronted with persons who are absconding.”
“Undoubtedly, the accused cannot be compelled to cooperate in an investigation or to provide any information that could be used against them,” the judge added.
SPP Singh argued that Balyan’s custody was needed to find the trail of the alleged gains procured by the “syndicate”. “We need to find out how the syndicate is getting financial help from Balyan… he is not disclosing names of other members of the syndicate,” he added.
Advocate M S Khan, appearing for Balyan, argued that to invoke MCOCA, a “fresh ommission” of crime was necessary. “All the alleged crimes mentioned by the Delhi Police are from 2018 to 2023… in many of these cases, a chargesheet has already been filed,” he said.
“Interrogation hasn’t been completed while the accused was in police custody for a week. The police couldn’t finish it till now, how will they do it in the coming week,” asked advocate N C Sharma, also representing Balyan.
Police had said Balyan’s name had cropped up in the case as an alleged facilitator to settle an extortion demand made by gangster Kapil Sangwan to a businessman. The MCOCA was also slapped against the gangster, who is purportedly operating from the UK, this year for extortion.
Why should you buy our Subscription?
You want to be the smartest in the room.
You want access to our award-winning journalism.
You don’t want to be misled and misinformed.
Choose your subscription package
