Gujarat AAP Leader Held On Extortion Charges In Dummy Candidates Racket Case, Oppn Questions Move

The Gujarat police have arrested AAP leader Yuvrajsinh Jadeja in Bhavnagar for allegedly extorting Rs 1 crore from two persons, one of whom is accused of being the mastermind in the case.

The Gujarat police have arrested Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Yuvrajsinh Jadeja in Bhavnagar city for allegedly extorting Rs 1 crore from two persons, as reported by the news agency PTI. According to an official, one of the persons is accused of being the mastermind of the dummy candidates racket that was exposed recently.

After several hours of questioning, AAP's youth wing leader Jadeja was arrested on Friday night by the police, he said. Jadeja is credited for exposing the alleged dummy candidates racket earlier this month.

Inspector General of Police Bhavnagar range Gautam Parmar said Jadeja extorted Rs 45 lakh from Prakash Dave, the alleged mastermind of the case, and Rs 55 lakh from Pradeep Baraiya for not revealing their names in a press conference for their alleged involvement in the dummy candidates racket, as reported by PTI.

After Jadeja's arrest, the AAP as well as the Congress slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for targeting him for exposing question paper leak and dummy candidate cases in recruitment for government jobs. 

Jadeja, who held a press conference in Gandhinagar on April 5 on the subject of dummy candidates racket, was issued summons under section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), asking him to appear before a special investigation team for questioning in the case.

After his questioning, an FIR was registered against him and his aide at the city's Neelambaug police station under sections 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt), 388 (extortion by threat) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Parmar said, as reported by PTI.

On March 25, Jadeja's aide had recorded a video of a dummy candidate. They showed the video to Prakash Dave and asked him to arrange Rs 70 lakh if he did not want his name to be revealed in the case. The deal was finalised for Rs 45 lakh, he said.

According to PTI, Baraiya was also asked to pay Rs 60 lakh to avoid being named by Jadeja in the press conference, police said. They finalised the deal for Rs 55 lakh, he said, adding that Jadeja collected the money through his aide. Bhavnagar police have arrested 14 people in a racket in which dummy candidates and aspirants got jobs without taking the competitive and government exams for various government posts. "In his press conference on April 5, Jadeja did not reveal their names," Parmar said.

AAP's state president Isudan Gadhvi said that the government has targeted Jadeja even when the masterminds of the question paper leak and dummy candidate cases remain scot-free.

"It is Yuvrajsinh who has exposed several paper leak cases. So it is but natural that some very powerful people are angry at him," Gadhvi said in a video statement last night, as quoted by PTI. "Paper leak and dummy candidates scams run into crores of rupees, and it is Yuvrajsinh who has exposed these cases. The manner in which he has been booked has upset the state's youth and is an attempt to suppress their voice," he said.

State Congress president Amit Chavda lashed out at the BJP and said that instead of taking action against the perpetrators of question paper leak and dummy candidate rackets, the government has arrested a youth leader who was behind exposing the racket.

"I demand from the government that if there is nothing wrong with it, then why does it not call for questioning top BJP leaders who have been accused of being behind the dummy candidate racket? The chief minister should answer this," Chavda said in a video statement, as quoted by PTI.