AAP MLA Naresh Balyan arrested in extortion case; triggers AAP-BJP sparring

DCP (Crime Branch) Sanjay Sain said, “The arrest was made after an investigation revealed an audio clip of a conversation between Balyan and notorious gangster Kapil Sangwan, also known as Nandu, who is currently based abroad. The conversation allegedly involved discussions about collecting ransom money from businessmen. Further investigation is on.”

Dismissing the accusations levelled against him, Balyan said in a post on X before his arrest, “I am sending notices to all those who have spread the false clip and getting FIRs registered against them… Those who spread lies should be ready for legal action.”

The FIR in the matter was registered in August 2023 against a man named Ashru for forcibly entering the house of a man and beating up his family in June last year. One of Ashru’s three accomplices had shot at the man and threatened to kill him. The bullet did not hit the victim, the FIR states. Balyan is not named in the FIR. His involvement is not mentioned either. Investigation, police sources, has revealed the involvement of gangster Sangwan.

On August 17, 2023, a trial court passed an ex parte ad interim order restraining a news channel from broadcasting news against Balyan. The Delhi High Court on August 25, 2023, had refused to set aside the trial court’s order. It, however, said it had not examined the merits of the contentions raised by the parties.

Addressing a press conference at the national BJP headquarters earlier in the day along with Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva, BJP National Spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said: “In one audio clip, AAP MLA Naresh Balyan is heard speaking to a gangster, where he tells him to extort money from a builder. Fearing arrest, he even asks the gangster to switch to another phone. The level of collusion, closeness, and friendship between the corrupt AAP MLA and the gangster is such that they are openly exchanging information.”

“Will Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Chief Minister Atishi immediately expel this MLA from the party? If they don’t, it will be clear that the extortion is being carried out at the behest of Kejriwal,” he added.

The AAP, responding to the arrest of its MLA, called the audio clip “fake”.

“Balyan filed complaints of receiving threat calls five times between 2022 and 2023. In July 2023, he received threatening calls from gangster Kapil Sangwan. In August 2023, a few TV channels ran a fake audio clip, whose broadcast was later stayed by the Delhi High Court. BJP played the same audio in violation of the court’s order on Saturday. Balyan has been arrested on unfounded allegations,” AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said.

Singh, at a press conference called in response to the BJP’s allegations, said, “The BJP’s sole aim is to lie and provoke quarrels to achieve its ultimate goal of destroying the nation… AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal has been consistently raising concerns about Delhi’s deteriorating law and order situation… Instead of addressing them or curbing crime in Delhi, Home Minister Amit Shah is solely focused on targeting Kejriwal.”

Seeking action against BJP leaders for circulating the audio clip, Singh said, “Despite the court’s directive, how did the BJP circulate this audio clip? The court must take action against them.”