6 min readNew DelhiAug 2, 2026 07:05 PM IST
A Delhi court has discharged former Uttam Nagar MLA and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Naresh Balyan in a 2023 extortion case as it flagged several lapses in the investigation.
In his order dated July 31, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Paras Dalal of the Rouse Avenue Court said, “…the (Delhi) Police report — without explanation — relies heavily upon secondary evidence, and there is also no explanation why primary evidence have not been seized or produced… When the complainant’s phone was available, why was not the same seized and sent for analyses? Why was secondary evidence in the form of a pen drive seized, which was never compared with original recordings in the mobile?”
The extortion case against Balyan stems from a police complaint filed by Gurcharan, a businessman and a resident of Mohan Garden in West Delhi, alleging that in July 2023, he had received an extortion call from gangster Kapil Sangwan demanding Rs 1 crore. Balyan was arrested on November 30, 2024, in the case, hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released an audio clip of what it claimed was a conversation between him and Sangwan. The same evening, the AAP leader was granted bail in this case. But he was arrested again on December 4, 2024, in another case lodged under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) . While Balyan has been discharged in the extortion case, Balyan will continue to remain in jail due to the MCOCA case that claims his alleged involvement in organised crime.
Lapses flagged
“An investigation registered in July 2023 reached its conclusion only in June 2026. The evidence collected was in piecemeal and in about 36 months, there were bursts of investigation for a couple of days followed by weeks and months of silence. Certainly, the accused no.1 (Sangwan) is absconding. However, it was only in January 2026 that coercive steps were taken against the said accused, and ultimately he was declared proclaimed person by this Court vide Order dated 06.06.2026,” ACJM Dalal said in his order as he also referred to gangster Sangwan, who is believed to be in the United Kingdom.
He added, “Between July 2023 to August 2023, the audio recordings were seized, however, the originals were never traced i.e., complainant’s mobile or the source from where the audio surfaced online on Facebook or reached the news channel. Until November 2024, there is little to no progress to the investigation…there is no explanation as to what hindered police to launch the investigation as soon as FIR was registered in July 2023.”
MCOCA was invoked against gangster Sangwan in 2024 in connection with the extortion case. Police officers said Balyan’s name cropped up in the case as an alleged facilitator to settle the extortion demand made by Sangwan to a businessman. They also claimed they had two statements of witnesses against Balyan.
However, while discharging Balyan in the case, the court also noted that no notice was given to Facebook or the user who had uploaded the recording of the alleged conversation between Balyan and Sangwan. “…the IO (investigating officer) found some audio recording to have existed on one particular Facebook account…which the IO transferred in a pen drive and himself seized the same. The IO has not explained why no notice was given to Facebook or the user who uploaded the audio and IO himself chose to download some audio file, transferred the same into a pen drive and seized the same vide seizure memo, while also giving a certificate of authenticity himself,” the court said.
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It added, “This very much makes the IO himself as an interested witness to the outcome of the case and this conduct loses all objectivity an IO must hold in an investigation.”
The court also found no evidence of conspiracy or prior meeting of minds in relation to the alleged extortion. “…there is not a single piece of evidence to show that there exists any prior meeting of minds between the accused persons. There is no evidence that both accused ever had any prior meeting of minds or entered into a conspiracy to commit the offence under investigation in the present case,” ACJM Dalal said.
The court also pulled up the police for relying on a senior police officer for Balyan’s voice identification who it said was “not an expert”. “…the IO called one ACP Anil Chauhan, who identified the voice of accused no.1 from audio files he heard at the instance of the IO. The said witness stated that about eight years ago, he had arrested the accused Kapil in some other FIR and hence he was in a position to identify the voice of accused Kapil. The said witness is not an expert, rather relies on his long memory….The exercise taken by the IO to call ACP Anil Chauhan to identify the voice of accused no.1 Kapil, is clearly in teeth with the mandate of law,” the order read.
It added, “Once August 2023 audio files were found, the investigation could have been made to trace the ‘Aid of AAP MLA’ and Golu Jindal, who are stated to be part of the conversation in two audio files. They were missing links to the conspiracy, if there existed any…such missing crucial link is detrimental to the prosecution story, when the entire case is based on circumstantial evidence.”
