A dramatic scuffle broke out between the Chandigarh police and the Punjab police near the Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh on Tuesday (14th October) over the custody of Navneet Chaturvedi, president of a political party called Janata Party. Chaturvedi, a resident of Jaipur, Rajasthan, was accused by several Aam Aadmi Party MLAs of forging their signatures and mentioning their names as proposers in his nomination papers before the Punjab Vidhan Sabha secretary while filing a nomination for the upcoming Rajya Sabha bypoll. A case was filed against Chaturvedi on Monday (13th October) on the allegations of forging signatures.
Tussle between the Punjab and the Chandigarh Police over the custody of Chaturvedi
When the Punjab police, carrying an arrest warrant issued by a Rupnagar court against Chaturvedi, reached Chandigarh to arrest him, they were stopped by the Chandigarh police, who provided him protection and refused to hand him over to the Punjab police. The Chandigarh Police then sent Chaturvedi to the police headquarters in Chandigarh.
Ropar SSP Gulneet Khurana said that a police team had “rounded up” Chaturvedi when the Chandigarh Police officials intervened and stopped his arrest. “Our teams were pushed away by the Chandigarh Police and were stopped from arresting him despite informing them about the arrest warrant,” the SSP said. He added that he met the Chandigarh SSP and informed her about the case filed against Chaturvedi on the complaint of Ropar MLA Dinesh Chadha. He said that the Punjab police are exploring legal options to arrest Chaturvedi. Chandigarh Police, on the other hand, said that Chaturvedi sought protection, expressing apprehension of abduction. They added that Chaturvedi was under their official protection when the Punjab Police came to arrest him.
Both Chaturvedi and the Punjab Police move the High Court
Navneet Chaturvedi and the Punjab Police have moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Chaturvedi alleged that the Punjab Police tried to abduct him and sought protection from arrest. The Punjab Police sought directions from the court to stop Chandigarh authorities from interfering in the execution of valid arrest warrants.
Rajya Sabha bypoll is scheduled to be held on 24th October to fill the vacancy created by AAP MP Sanjeev Arora, who vacated the seat after his election to the state assembly. Out of the 117 members in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, 93 members are from AAP, and they have endorsed industrialist Rajinder Gupta, who filed his nomination on 10th October.
Chaturvedi filed his nomination twice, both rejected over forged signatures
10 AAP MLAs reportedly came to know through social media posts that their names had been included as proposers in the nomination papers of Chaturvedi, who filed his nomination on 6th October. They filed a complaint with DGP Gaurav Yadav and the returning officer for the Rajya Sabha byelection, Ram Lok Khatana, clarifying that they did not endorse the candidature of Chaturvedi.
Subsequently, Chaturvedi filed another nomination on Monday, this time using the names and signatures of another set of 10 AAP MLAs as his proposers. Notably, some of the 10 AAP MLAs named by Chaturvedi as his endorsers also had supported the candidature of Rajinder Gupta. During his first nomination, Chaturvedi reportedly gave the names of Rajnish Dahiya, Naresh Kataria, Sukhbir Singh Maiser Khana, Ranbir Bhullar, Gurlal Singh Ghannaur, Amolak Singh, Manjeet Singh Billaspur, Kulwant Singh Pandori, Gurpreet Singh Banawali and Kulwant Singh Bazigar. Among these, Amolak, Pandori, Bilaspur, Bazigar and Banawali had endorsed the name of Gupta.
In his second nomination, Chaturvedi named Madan Lal Bagga, Ashok Pappi Prashar, Dinesh Chadha, Gurdev Singh Dev Mann, Raman Arora, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, Jasbir Singh Sandhu, Devinder Singh Laddi Dhos, Dr Vijay Singla and Fauja Singh Sarari as his new endorsers. Out of these, Vijay Singla, Madan Lal Bagga, and Pappi Prashar endorsed Gupta. Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh and Raman Arora are rebel AAP MLAs, and Singh has been suspended from the party.
Both the nominations filed by Chaturvedi have reportedly been rejected following a scrutiny on Tuesday after the signatures of his proposers were found to be forged.
