Cases against AAP MLAsnow coming thick and fast

New Delhi: There is no love lost between Delhi

Police

and AAP, and the former police commissioner, B S Bassi, made no bones about it. The

AAP

government has also been seeking control over the police and has often confronted it in various cases. So, the sheer number of party

MLAs

being arrested by the police has made news. In the last three cases -- two MLAs finally landed behind bars -- the charges and circumstances were almost similar. A woman, mostly a social worker, landed up at their office or residence with a complain but was allegedly molested by the MLA’s men, with the MLAs too finally being nabbed by the cops. All three cases were registered by the south-eastern range of Delhi Police.

On July 8, AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal from Deoli constituency was booked for allegedly molesting a woman who approached him for complaining against water scarcity. The FIR came a week after another AAP MLA, Dinesh Mohaniya from Sangam Vihar, was arrested for allegedly molesting two women protesting against water shortage. The latest in this list is Amanatullah Khan who allegedly misbehaved with a woman who wanted to protest against a power problem.

The victim in Jarwal’s

case

is a resident of Sangam Vihar but lodged the FIR at GK police station. She has alleged that the MLA and his men misbehaved with her and manhandled her outside Delhi Jal Board's office in Greater Kailash on June 2 when she had gone there to complain against irregular supply of water in her colony. While she was waiting outside a senior official's office, the MLA’s supporters started hurling abuses at her.

In the case of Amanatullah, an FIR was registered when he was not an accused. The complainant alleged the youth who abused her was acting at his behest. The MLA was in a vehicle which tried to mow her down after she complained, it was alleged. And Delhi Police was left with no option but to

arrest

him.

Eight other MLAs have been arrested on charges ranging from assault to rioting. Model Town MLA Akhileshpati Tripathi, who was booked in an alleged incident of rioting, was acquitted in December last year.

Now trouble seems to be brewing against AAP MLAs Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri) and Kartar Singh Tanwar (Chhattarpur). While Rishi has been accused of extortion by a woman who named him in a note before allegedly attempting suicide earlier this month, the income-tax department on Wednesday conducted searches on the premises of Tanwar for alleged tax evasion.

The number of FIRs against which no arrests have been made are far more. Tripathi, along with Sanjay Jha, MLA from Burari, has been booked in another rioting case. The government’s two former law ministers -- Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti and Trinagar MLA Jitender Singh Tomar -- were also arrested after being booked under criminal charges. Bharti is accused in two separate cases -- a molestation case for his infamous midnight raid in Khirki Extension and a matrimonial cruelty case filed by his wife. Tomar spent a month-and-a-half in jail following his arrest on charges that his law degree was fake.

Delhi Cantonment legislator Surinder Singh is facing charges of allegedly abusing and beating up a worker of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation and Kondli legislator Manoj Kumar is an accused in an alleged case of cheating and land-grabbing.

On Wednesday, yet another person who is associated with AAP -- party volunteer Ramesh Wadhwa -- was arrested by Delhi Police on the charge of harassing his party colleague who allegedly committed suicide at her house in outer Delhi. This happened even as Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal was booked for allegedly naming a rape victim.