The Punjab Police on Sunday arrested Aam Aadmi Party MLA Naresh Yadav for allegedly being involved in the desecration of the Quran in Malerkota on June 24. Yadav’s arrest came hours after another party legislator, Aamanatullah Khan was arrested by the Delhi Police from the capital's Ohkla locality for threatening a woman. The two arrests drew a sharp response from the AAP, which blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for targeting the party and “arresting his political opponents”.
Yadav will be produced in a Malerkotla court on Monday. The police tracked him down after one of the accused in the incident said Yadav had instigated it. Yadav has been charged with abetment, promoting enmity, and defiling a place of worship. However, he denied the allegations and said it was a conspiracy. He also claimed that the police had arrested him based on a tip-off from a "Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh man".
Reacting to the two arrests, party president and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “It is shameful that Modi ji has diverted entire police from protecting women to arresting his political opponents [sic].” Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “Two MLAs arrested in a day is a proof his frustration. CBI, ACB, Delhi Police, Punjab Police.” A total of 10 AAP MLAs have been arrested since the party came to power in Delhi in 2015, three of them this month.
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