Delhi Food and Supplies Minister Imran Hussain and four others were today denied anticipatory bail by a Delhi court for allegedly threatening to kill a man and demolish his under-construction building if he failed to give Rs 30 lakh as extortion.
Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma dismissed the application seeking protection from arrest, considering that the matter was "serious" and the offence was "not compoundable", as he rejected submissions of defence counsel that the parties had arrived at a compromise.
"Considering the facts that the matter is serious and offences are not compoundable and considering the evidence so far, I do not find it a fit case for grant of anticipatory bail. Applications are therefore dismissed," the judge said.
Apart from Hussain, the court also rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of his alleged associates -- Mohsin Ahmed, Furkan Hussain, Irfan Hussain and Hammad.
An FIR was registered against the minister and four others at Jafrabad Police Station in Northeast Delhi early this year for alleged offences under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion) and 389 (putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion) of the IPC.
According to the police, the minister had sent co-accused Mohsin at the residence of the complainant, stopped the construction work and asked him to meet Imran in Jafrabad.
It alleged that the minister demanded Rs 30 lakh or he would not allow the construction work to go on and get the building demolished.
When the complainant requested that the amount was too high, they abused him and Mohsin showed a pistol, it alleged and also claimed that Imran also threatened the complainant and his brother that they would get him falsely implicated in a rape or murder case, if the money was not paid.
Seeking the relief, the defence counsel submitted that the parties have reached a compromise and were likely to move Delhi High Court for quashing of the FIR.
The prosecutor, however, opposed the anticipatory bail pleas saying that the offences were not compoundable as they entailed a punishment of upto 10 years.
The court, in its order, noted that the investigating officer has shown that there were recorded conversation between the accused and complainant and also of the junior engineer claiming pressure from the minister.
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