Slugfest over Navneet Chaturvedi: 200 Punjab cops wait all-night outside police station, while Chandigarh cops guard him inside

Over 200 Punjab Police officers continued to be stationed outside the Sector 3 Police Station in Chandigarh, keeping watch to nab Navneet Chaturvedi, in case he came out of the police station.

Related story: HC to hear case in Punjab-Chandigarh police clash over custody of RS nominee Navneet Chaturvedi

He has been kept in the police station by Chandigarh Police, who say they are protecting him.

It is reliably learned that his lawyers are moving the court, seeking anticipatory bail and also demanding an investigation into the rejection of his nomination papers for Rajya Sabha. Among the senior officials present at the spot is SP of Ropar Police, G S Gosal.

Chaturvedi had filed two sets of nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha bypoll, scheduled for October 24. In his first set of nomination papers, filed on October 6, he had named 10 AAP MLAs as his proposers. But these papers did not carry the signatures of any MLA.

He submitted a second set of nomination papers on October 13, which carried the names of ten AAP MLAs as his proposers along with their signatures.

During the scrutiny of the nomination papers on Tuesday, Chaturvedi’s nomination papers were rejected on the pretext that the signatures of all ten MLAs were forged.

In fact, on Monday night itself, most of the 10 MLAs had moved applications before the police in their respective districts, claiming their signatures were forged by Chaturvedi and demanding that an FIR be registered.

An FIR was registered against him at the Ropar Police station on Monday night. At the same time, Chandigarh Police and Chaturvedi claim that the latter sought police protection, which was provided to him. He came to the Vidhan Sabha for scrutiny of his papers under the protection of Chandigarh Police, and later, when he was going back under police protection, the Ropar Police tried to intercept the police vehicle and nab Chaturvedi.

He was then taken to the office of the Chandigarh SSP and later shifted to the Sector 3 Police Station, with Chandigarh Police refusing to hand him over to Ropar Police, although the latter later procured and presented an arrest warrant.