Punjab: Rajya Sabha bypoll forgery accused sent to seven-day police custody
Chandigarh, Oct 16
A trial court in Punjab's Ropar on Thursday sent Navneet Chaturvedi, the main accused in the Rajya Sabha bypoll forgery case involving 10 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators, to police custody till October 23.
A case of forgery, impersonation, and criminal conspiracy was registered against him for allegedly using the forged signature and name of AAP legislator from Ropar, Dinesh Chadha, in nomination papers.
After nearly a 28-hour-long confrontation between Chandigarh Police and Punjab Police over the custody, the latter on Wednesday evening arrested Chaturvedi from the Sector 3 police station in Chandigarh.
Chaturvedi, who claims to be the president of the Janata Party (India) and hails from Jaipur, had filed two sets of nomination papers as an independent candidate for the October 24 Rajya Sabha by-election in Punjab.
In his first set of papers, filed on October 6, he named 10 AAP MLAs as his proposers without their signatures. He submitted a second set of papers on October 13, which carried the names of the 10 AAP MLAs as his proposers, along with their signatures.
During scrutiny, his papers were rejected as the signatures of all 10 MLAs were allegedly found to be forged.
Meanwhile, Chaturvedi on Wednesday moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking protection from arrest in the criminal case registered against him. Simultaneously, the state government also moved the High Court, seeking urgent hearings.
The High Court, which only sought responses from the respective parties on their pleas, refused to pass an order in any of the cases.
In the petition, Chaturvedi sought protection from arrest for 10 days and directions to the Punjab Police to produce the first information report (FIR) registered against him before the court.
He also alleged attempts to abduct him by the Punjab Police on Tuesday.
After the FIR was registered in Ropar, a Punjab Police team went to Chandigarh to arrest him, but the Chandigarh Police took him into their custody.
Earlier this week, the Punjab Police registered multiple FIRs after several Aam Aadmi Party MLAs alleged that their signatures were forged on nomination papers submitted by Chaturvedi.
Pleading in the High Court, Advocate General Maninderjit Singh Bedi and Additional Advocate General Chanchal Singla have sought the transfer of custody of the accused to the Punjab Police, and initiation of contempt and departmental action against the officials responsible for defiance of court orders.
The Punjab Police have initiated legal action following receipt of complaints from sitting Members of the Vidhan Sabha (MLAs) regarding the alleged forgery of their signatures on nomination papers submitted by Chaturvedi.
— IANS
Reader Comments
The confrontation between Chandigarh Police and Punjab Police is quite embarrassing. Shouldn't our law enforcement agencies work together instead of fighting over custody? This shows coordination issues at the highest levels. 😕
As someone from Punjab, I'm glad the system caught this fraud attempt. Rajya Sabha elections should be clean and transparent. The accused claiming to be a party president from Jaipur trying to manipulate Punjab politics is unacceptable.
Interesting how he filed two sets of nomination papers - first without signatures and then with forged ones. Shows premeditation. The High Court was right to not grant protection when there's clear evidence of forgery. Justice should prevail.
While the forgery is wrong, I'm concerned about the police conduct too. The accused alleged abduction attempts and there was inter-police fighting. Our system needs to ensure due process is followed, even for serious allegations. 🤔
This case highlights the importance of digital verification systems in our election process. If we had proper digital signatures and verification, such forgery attempts would be much harder to execute. Time to modernize our electoral systems!
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.