New Delhi: Audio clips aired by a news channel a year ago, an on-camera ‘gangster’, and a BJP press conference on Saturday. A curious string of events led up to the arrest of AAP MLA Naresh Balyan on extortion charges.
Naresh Balyan is a two-time legislator from Uttam Nagar in West Delhi.
His arrest on Saturday has led to a political slugfest between the BJP and the AAP. Sources in the Delhi Police maintained that Balyan was arrested as he did not cooperate during questioning. Balyan will be produced in court on Sunday.
Hours before the police called in Balyan, the BJP did a press conference playing the audio clips allegedly of Balyan and wanted gangster Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu planning to extort a Delhi builder, Guru Charan.
At the press conference, Gaurav Bhatia, national spokesperson for the BJP, accused Balyan of indulging in criminal activities, with approval from former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
A senior officer told ThePrint that the police filed the FIR last year based on Guru Charan’s complaint at the Mohan Garden police station. Later, the crime branch took over the case.
“The arrest was made after an investigation revealed an audio clip of a conversation between Naresh Balyan and notorious gangster Kapil Sangwan, also known as Nandu, currently based abroad. The conversation involved discussions about collecting ransom money from businessmen,” a senior police officer said.
“AAP MLA Naresh Balyan in a conversation with a gangster. The gangster asks why the AAP leader has filed a complaint against him. Balyan replies that he was being blackmailed by the gangster and his goons. The gangster responds that he would make some recording of Balyan viral, listening to which the MLA flips and starts singing like a canary,” the BJP said on X, sharing the audio clip.
The case
The case against Naresh Balyan stems from a TV news episode, followed by a debate on gangster-politician nexuses.
The news channel aired the episode on 17 August 2023. According to court documents, apart from the audio clip of the alleged conversation between Balyan and Sangwan, the channel broadcast a video clip of a person claiming to be Sangwan and saying that Balyan provided details of Guru Charan, followed by the Nandu gang threatening the builder that they would kill him if he did not pay up.
The news episode followed this up with a clip of a reporter talking to the builder’s son about the ransom demand. Guru Charan’s son Sachin confirmed the same.
Following this, Balyan filed a civil suit against the news channel, claiming that the content of the broadcast was false and calling it defamatory.
According to court records, the Special Cell of Delhi Police issued a notice to the news channel to get the original clip of the broadcast episode and certification confirming that it was Kapil Sangwan indeed.
Naresh Balyan and the AAP have denied the allegations, and according to court documents, the AAP MLA has claimed that Sangwan issued death threats to him and submitted police complaints against him between December 2022 and July 2023.
The audio clips went viral on social media, after which the Delhi Police lodged an FIR. “Further investigation is on,” a senior Delhi Police officer said.
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