New Delhi--AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya was today arrested on charges of molestation and sexual harassment amidst high drama when he was addressing a press conference, triggering an angry outburst from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The Delhi CM accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of enforcing an "emergency" in Delhi.
Mohaniya, who is also vice chairman of Delhi Jal Board, was virtually dragged from his seat by a police official when he was talking to reporters at his office in Khanpur in South Delhi, at around 12.10 pm.
"Mohaniya has been arrested under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354 A (sexual harassment), 354 B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) and 354 C (voyeurism), said Joint Commissioner of Police (south East) RP Upadhyay.
Reacting sharply to the arrest of the party MLA, Kejriwal posted the following tweets:
Modi declares emergency in Delhi. Arresting, raiding, terrorizing, filing false cases against all those whom Delhi elected
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 25, 2016
Dinesh mohaniya arrested from his press conference in front of all TV cameras. What msg does Modi want to give to everyone?
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 25, 2016
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia echoed Kejriwal's sentiments and said that even of Modi puts all of them behind bars, they won't bow before him.
इमरजेंसी की याद के दिन दिल्ली में अघोषित इमरजेंसी। मोदी जी! हम सबको ऐसे फर्जी आरोपों में जेल में डाल दोगे तब भी हम नहीं झुकने वाले।
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) June 25, 2016
In his defence, Mohaniya said that this set-up was orchestrated by the BJP do divert attention from the murder case of NDMC official MM Khan. AAP had gone all guns blazing after L-T governor Najeeb Jung - known to be close to the Centre - following the murder of Khan, who was allegedly shot for refusing to take a bribe from hotelier Ramesh Kakkar.
In a report, The Indian Express found that Jung, had directed that action be taken against Khan, on the basis of complaints filed by the hotelier now accused of murdering the NDMC official. IE reported:
"Records obtained by The Indian Express show that on May 11, five days before Khan was murdered, the Lt Governor’s office sent another letter to NDMC, this time referring to a note from BJP East Delhi MP Maheish Girri on the same issue."
It was also suggested that Mohaniya was scheduled to go to the police station himself after the press conference, but the Delhi Police picked him up before that.
AAP MLA Dinesh Mohania was scheduled to go to d police after d press conference. Del police took him away from the presser itself
— Rupashree Nanda (@rupashreenanda) June 25, 2016
Mohaniya is the eighth AAP MLA to be arrested by Delhi Police since the party came to power for the second time in Delhi February 2015.
With inputs from PTI.
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