Amit Shah has made Delhi a gangster and extortion capital: Arvind Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal. File Photo

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal launched a scathing attack on Union Home Minister Amit Shah, allegedly accusing him of making Delhi the "gangster and extortion capital" of India.

Speaking to the media in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal criticised the deteriorating law and order situation in the capital, stating that in the past one to two years, there has been a significant increase in gang violence, extortion calls to businessmen and frequent shootings. He further compared the current situation to the underworld dominance in Mumbai in the 1990s.

"In the last one to two years, the law and order in Delhi has been deteriorated. We have heard that in the decade of 1990s, the underworld dominated in Mumbai - there used to be open shootouts there... We didn't think that Delhi would face a similar situation. Gangsters have captured Delhi, businessmen are getting ransom calls and firing is common. I have come here (Nangloi) to meet Roshan Lal on whom shots were fired a few days back when he came to open his shop," he said.

AAP national convener further accused the BJP of preventing him from meeting the victim, saying, "BJP has sent thousands of its people to stop me. I wasn't allowed to meet him... Who is responsible for all this? (Union HM) Amit Shah has this responsibility of Delhi's law & order and under him, Delhi has become a gangster and extortion capital."

"Why is the BJP not allowing me to meet him? What are they trying to hide? I want the law and order in Delhi to improve so that the common man, businessmen and women are safe. The people of Delhi gave me responsibility for education, health and electricity, which I have sorted. The people of Delhi gave the responsibility of law to the centre, which has deteriorated. People are frightened to come out of their homes. People are getting calls for extortion. There is more than one such incident," Arvind Kejriwal added.

Responding to the allegations, Special CP (Law and Order) Madhup Tewari stated that the shooting incident in Nangloi, which occurred two months ago, was resolved quickly with the arrest of two individuals and the recovery of weapons.

"We have received the information that this incident (Nangloi firing) - which is a two-month-old incident is again being highlighted. We want to clarify that Delhi police took quick action in that and have arrested two accused within a day and have also recovered the weapons. I don't know why it is being highlighted again, even when we took very effective action," he said.

Earlier, the Delhi Police's Special Cell on September 30 had arrested two sharpshooters from the Jitender-Gogi gang a day after shots were fired at a sweets shop in Nangloi in a reported extortion bid, said police. The police recovered a semi-automatic pistol with five live cartridges, a country-made pistol with four live cartridges, and a motorcycle used in the crime. According to the police, the two accused are Hari Om alias Lalla, 27, a resident of Rohini Sector 20, and Jatin, 21, from VPO Mundka.

In a bid to extort money, the assailants fired gunshots at the counter and employee of a sweets shop in Nangloi and threw extortion slips featuring coloured photographs of deceased gangsters Jitender alias Gogi and Kuldeep Fajja on one side and names of jailed gangsters Deepak alias Boxer, Ankesh Lakra, and Vishal on another side, said police. Police used CCTV footage from the neighbourhood and manual inputs to identify the duo. Further acting on a tip-off, police arrested the duo from Rohini.

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