AAP MLA arrested for ‘threatening’ woman

In yet another blow to the Aam Aadmi Party, the Delhi police on Sunday arrested its Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan after a woman alleged that he had threatened her with rape and murder when she visited his residence with a complaint about power cuts a few days ago.

Another AAP MLA, Naresh Yadav, booked in connection with the alleged Malerkotla sacrilege incident on June 24, was arrested by the Punjab police from his house in Delhi.

Mr Khan, the Delhi Waqf Board chairman, is the AAP’s 11th legislator to be arrested after the party came to power in February 2015. He was first detained for questioning and then arrested a day after he alleged in a press conference that the woman was “pressurised” by the police into giving a false statement against him.

According to the police, the complainant recorded her statement on July 22 before the magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC. “She had alleged while she was returning from the legislator’s residence, a vehicle tried mowing her down and Amanatullah was sitting in it,” said joint commission of police (southeast range) R.P. Upadhyay.

Prior to that, she had on July 19 filed a police complaint alleging that a youth had abused her and threatened at Mr Khan’s residence in Jamia Nagar on July 10 that she would be killed if she did not stop politicising the matter. An FIR was subsequently registered in this regard.

“After her statement to the magistrate, Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) was added to the FIR. It is a non-bailable charge and we have arrested Mr Khan,” Mr Upadhyay said.

The woman, a resident of Jasola, had last week in a police complaint said she had telephoned Mr Khan on July 10 and later went to his Batla House residence to raise the issue of power cuts.

She claimed the MLA did not meet her and while she was returning, a youth came out of the house, abused her and threatened that she would be killed if she did not stop politicising the matter.

Later, an FIR was registered against an unidentified youth under Sections 506 and 509 of IPC at the Jamia Nagar police station. Mr Khan had, however, said he did not even know if the woman had come to his residence.

“On Sunday, Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan was briefly interrogated and arrested. He was produced before the court in Saket court complex where he was remanded on one-day police custody.