Three fresh criminal cases, including one under the stringent Gangsters Act, were registered against jailed Samajwadi Party MLA Irfan Solanki on Monday, a police officer said.
Two of these cases -- one under the UP Gangsters & Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act and another pertaining to alleged land grab and extortion in the recent past -- were registered at Jajmau police station, Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Anand Prakash Tiwari said.
The third case was registered at Gwaltoli police station on charges of creating chaos and using criminal force to deter public servant from discharging official duties over a protest by Irfan Solanki in August 2021, the police officer said.
Irfan Solanki, the SP MLA from Sisamau in Kanpur, has been in prison since December 2, when he along with his younger brother Rizwan surrendered before the police commissioner after being booked for rioting and arson in a land dispute case.
The MLA is also accused of using a fake Aadhaar card to fly from Delhi to Mumbai on November 11.
On the Gangsters Act case, the police officer said a probe confirmed that the SP legislator had formed a gang which included his jailed brother Rizwan, Shaukat Ali, and history-sheeters Israeel alias Aatewala and Mohammad Sharif, and they were involved mainly in land grabbing and extortion. They have also been charged under the Gangsters Act.
Efforts are on to identify more members of the gang, the police officer said.
The second case registered at Jajmau police station was under IPC sections 386 (extortion by putting fear of death), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 427 (mischief causes loss), 504 (intentional insult) and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
Police have also booked jailed builder Haji Wasi alias Wasi builder, Qamar Alam and Shahid Lari who deal in real estate in this case.
The FIR at Gwaltoli police station was registered under IPC sections 147 (rioting) 188 (disobeys orders promulgated by public servant) 269 and 270 (negligently does any act likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) 332 and 353 (voluntarily causes hurt to public servant to deter him) and 504 (intentional insult).
With these three fresh FIRs, the number of cases registered against the MLA in a span of less than two months reached eight. The politician faces a total of 18 cases now.
In 2010, the first case was registered against Irfan Solanki under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 at Gwaltoli police station.
One case was registered against him in 2011, three in 2014, two in 2017 and one in 2020.
In 2022, 10 cases were registered against him.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who visited the MLA in prison on December 19, said Irfan Solanki was innocent and has been falsely implicated in criminal cases.
Just hours after his meeting Akhilesh Yadav, another FIR was filed against Irfan Solanki for allegedly "authorising" a Bangladeshi national and his family members as Indian nationals.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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