New Delhi: MLA Vijender Gupta on Sunday accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Home Minister Satyendar Jain of trying to “save” a rape accused who he claimed was an AAP volunteer, a charge vehemently denied by the party.
Addressing a press conference, Gupta alleged that Aftab Siddiqui, who has been arrested on rape charges, is an AAP volunteer and both Kejriwal and Jain allegedly “pressurised” police against registering an FIR against him. However, the Aam Aadmi Party denied Gupta’s charge, saying these were baseless allegations.
“He (Aftab Siddiqui) is not a party volunteer. We don’t have any volunteer with such name in Paschim Vihar area. The allegations levelled by Gupta are totally baseless,” AAP spokesperson Deepak Bajpai said. Gupta, who is the Opposition leader in Delhi Assembly, said that Aftab had “close relations” with Jain and AAP leader Ashutosh.
“AAP ruling party, including the Chief Minister and the Health Minister Satyendar Jain tried to pressurise the Paschim Vihar police to not register the FIR against Aftab,” Gupta said in a statement. Gupta released photographs to establish “close political” working relations of Aftab Siddiqui with several AAP leaders.
The BJP leader has “challenged” the AAP leaders to deny the veracity of the photographs and urged the police to investigate the matter thoroughly.
According to police, 23-year-old Aftab has been arrested for the alleged rape of a married woman over a period of time in west Delhi’s Paschim Vihar area. The accused allegedly filmed the incident and blackmailed her with the video preserved in his computer. He also threatened the victim several times on the basis of his claimed political connections, police said.
Aftab has however claimed that he had recently given his computer to a local shop for formatting, and the owner of the shop had allegedly copied the video and later distributed it. However, these claims are yet to be verified, police said. Police is also verifying Aftab’s alleged connections to the political party.
PTI