Workers protest over Mundka candidate

A group of Aam Aadmi Party volunteers protested in west Delhi’s Nangloi on Saturday over the party’s decision to field Rajendra Dabas from Mundka constituency for the Assembly election, complaining that he had a criminal history.

An abetment of suicide case was filed with Kanjhawala police station in December 2012 where Dabas was named as the accused. The case was filed after a former employee of Tihar Jail, Rajsingh Kataria, committed suicide at his house in Ghevra village. He said in a suicide note that Dabas had been blackmailing him by threatening to implicate him in a case.

On Saturday, Rajsingh’s wife Laxmi Devi was among 300 people who held the protest at Kamruddin Nagar in Nangloi. They blocked Rohtak Road for an hour around noon. AAP leader Kartar Singh Tanwar, who will contest the elections from Chattarpur Assembly constituency, took permission from Delhi Police to hold the protest.

The protesters were demanding that the party withdraw Dabas’ candidature within two days.

“We will protest outside AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s house if Dabas is not removed. We want a strong candidate to fight against the relatives of former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, not a person with criminal history who would sell the seat for personal gain,” Naveen, an AAP volunteer, told Deccan Herald. He said Dabas was accused in six or seven criminal cases.

Laxmi Devi told Deccan Herald that her husband had hanged himself on November 30, 2012. After Rajsingh’s cremation, a suicide note was found in a diary in his room on December 2, 2012.

Blackmail
It was alleged in the note that he took the extreme step due to blackmail by Dabas and some other people in Ghevra village. Rajsingh’s family had then approached Kanjhawala police station and a case under section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code was filed on December 3, 2012.

“If no action is taken, Laxmi will also go on fast unto death outside Kejriwal’s house,” Naveen said.

Mundka Assembly constituency is a part of North West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, and was won by independent candidate Rambir Shokeen in 2013.

AAP’s Krishan Kumar had received only 15 per cent of the votes, while Shokeen got 34 per cent and Sahib Singh Verma’s brother Azad Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party got 30 per cent votes.

Kartar Singh Tanwar, who was also former South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s south zone chairman, had joined AAP from BJP last month. He had earlier said that AAP was the only option left for those who wanted clean politics.

Last year, the party had removed Surendra Sharma, its candidate for the 2013 Assembly elections from Shahdara constituency, for hiding details of his criminal antecedents.

The protesters claimed that they have submitted documents proving Dabas’ criminal history with senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh. However, when contacted, AAP spokesperson Nagendra Sharma said he was not aware of the protest.
DH News Service