AAP Delhi MLA Naresh Yadav acquitted, 2 others convicted in in Malerkotla Quran sacrilege case

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, March 16

A local court today acquitted AAP Delhi MLA Naresh Yadav and another as the police failed to prove the allegations against them in the Malerkotla Quran sacrilege case. Two other accused were sentenced to two-year imprisonment with a fine of Rs 11,000 each.

“After the recovery of torn pages of Quran in Malerkotla city on June 24, 2016, initially the police had registered a case against Vijay Kumar, Nand Kishore and Gaurav Kumar. Later, AAP legislator Naresh Yadav’s name was also added. Since the police failed to prove the allegations against Yadav, a local court has acquitted him and another accused, Nand Kishore,” said Narpal Singh Dhaliwal, counsel for Yadav.

On September 13, 2018, Yadav had also moved an application in a local court and sought an inquiry into the transfer of Rs 90 lakh in the bank account of accused Vijay Kumar and his links with the RSS.

“The court has sentenced Gaurav and Vijay to two-year imprisonment and given them one month’s time to file an appeal in the upper court,” said Dhaliwal.

All four accused were present on Tuesday in court while Leader of Opposition (LoP) Harpal Singh Cheema also reached the court to express solidarity with the MLA.

“It was a politically motivated case as the police had no evidence against me,” alleged Yadav.

LoP Cheema alleged the then government hatched a conspiracy to tarnish the party’s image. “CM Capt Amarinder Singh must accelerate investigations in all sacrilege cases to punish the guilty” said Cheema. 

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