Punjab Police arrests AAP lawmaker Naresh Yadav from Delhi

Chandigarh: Punjab Police tonight arrested AAP MLA Naresh Yadav who has been booked in connection with the alleged Malerkotla sacrilege incident on June 24. "We arrested AAP MLA Naresh Yadav from his house in Delhi. He will be produced in a Malerkotla court tomorrow," Punjab Police, IG (Patiala Zone), Paramraj Singh Umra Nangal said. He said a team of Punjab police was dispatched to Delhi to arrest Yadav. Nangal said an arrest warrant was procured from a Malerkotla court to arrest Yadav. Yadav has been booked under relevant sections of the IPC after one of the accused, Vijay Kumar, arrested in connection with the incident, claimed he had done it at the behest of the AAP MLA. He has been charged with IPC sections 109 (punishment for abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295 (injury or defiling place of worship with an intent to insult the religion of any class). Yadav before his arrest had described the police action against him as a "conspiracy." "When I had told police that I was available for questioning any time then why I am being arrested," he said, adding that police procured the arrest warrant on the accusations of an "RSS man". Punjab Police has questioned the AAP MLA twice in connection with the incident. Police had claimed that Vijay had met the MLA before the incident and calls were also exchanged between them. The Mehrauli MLA and his party have denied the charges and alleged it was a "political conspiracy" to malign AAP's image ahead of Assembly polls in Punjab.