New Delhi : AAP legislators Somnath Bharti and Amanatullah Khan on Thursday got bail from two different courts here, sparking another attack by Delhi’s ruling party on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed surprise that at a time when the Prime Minister should be focussing on the Uri terror attack, his machinery was still targeting the AAP.
“I am amazed at a time when PM should be working on Uri, his machinery is working overtime to get AAP MLAs arrested or me implicated in false cases,” the Aam Aadmi Party leader tweeted, referring to the terror attack on an army camp in Uri in Kashmir that left 18 soldiers dead.
Kejriwal’s reaction came a day after he alleged that police had named him in an FIR related to alleged illegalities in the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) and shortly after courts in Delhi gave bail to two AAP MLAs.
Bharti was granted bail on a personal security bond of Rs 30,000, only hours after his arrest for allegedly damaging a fence at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and misbehaving with its security guards.
Bharti was taken into custody from his residence earlier in the day. The former Delhi law minister has denied the allegations.
Police registered an FIR against Bharti and his supporters on September 11 on charges of rioting with deadly weapons, obstructing public servants as well as assaulting or using criminal force against public servants following a complaint from the AIIMS Chief Security Officer R.S. Rawat.
Rawat alleged that Bharti provoked a mob to damage the fence at AIIMS at around 9.45 a.m. on September 9 and allowed unauthorised persons with JCB machines to access the hospital premises and misbehaved with security personnel.
The complaint said six security personnel were injured when they tried to intervene.
Reacting to Bharti’s arrest, AAP leader Dilip Pandey said the PWD had started demolishing a drain at Gautam Nagar, adjoining the AIIMS complex, for the benefit of its residents.
“Being the legislator of the constituency, Bharti was present at the site along with residents and police personnel. He was arrested on spurious charges. This is sad,” Pandey told the media.
“We want to tell Modiji that AAP leaders and MLAS do not fear getting arrested. Hang us, if you (Modi) want, for doing public welfare work,” the AAP leader said
Another AAP legislator, Amanatullah Khan, was also granted bail by another court. He was arrested a day earlier for allegedly sexually harassing a relative.
Khan, who represents Okhla constituency in south Delhi, was arrested on Wednesday after being called for questioning. He was sent to a day’s judicial custody by the court.
Following the woman’s complaint, an FIR was lodged against the AAP legislator at the Jamia Nagar police station on September 10.
The complainant accused Khan of pressurising her to establish physical relations. Khan has denied the charge, saying he has not met the woman for years.
The Kejriwal and Modi governments have been at loggerheads ever since the AAP swept to power in the national capital in February 2015.