AAP asks MLAs for list of cases, if any

NEW DELHI: After burning its fingers with two MLAs who are in judicial remand over various accusations, Aam Aadmi Party has asked its other MLAs to submit a list of cases, if any, filed against them, especially if they have been chargesheeted.
The step was taken after police initiated action against former law minister Jitender Tomar and Kondli MLA Manoj Kumar.Tomar is in custody over a fake degree racket while Kumar has been accused of fraud in land dealings.
The party and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had gone out of their way to defend Tomar but were embarrassed after the police produced a lot of evidence against him.
"Most of the details are already available with the party but we would like to know if there are any FIRs against any MLA since then. This exercise was carried out at the insistence of the senior leadership of the party. We are trying to assess the situation, and in case there is anything serious against anyone, the party will decide on its course of action. So far, in other than one or two cases, there is nothing that the police can take cognizance of. Two MLAs who were in news recently Commando Surinder Singh and Akhileshpati Tripathi have been especially questioned," said a senior party member.
A member of the party's Delhi unit said that election affidavits mention only the cases in which a chargesheet has been filed.
Hence, there is often no mention of all cases that could be registered against someone. "The party has found itself in an embarrassing situation and we have been able to check the veracity of only those cases that have been revealed to us. In Kumar's case, his affidavit is totally clean but he had IRs against him, including one under section 344 for outraging the modesty of a woman. It is easy to malign someone with an FIR but a chargesheet proves that there is ground to investigate the matter. So far, we have asked only 22 MLAs against whom questions have been raised recently to give us details. The process will be extended to cover all MLAs," he said.