Court discharges AAP MLA in six cases of extortion

A court here today discharged Delhi AAP MLA Manoj Kumar in six related cases of extortion filed against him in August 2015.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal absolved the MLA from the charges citing lack of evidence against him.

The court, however, framed the charges against his personal assistant and co-accused Deepak Sharma in the case.

Delhi police had registered as many as 17 FIRs in East Delhi against Sharma, who was then arrested. In some of the FIRs, the MLA was also made an accused.

Sharma was arrested over a complaint by a ration shop owner, who had alleged that he had been extorting Rs 2,000 every month from local shop owners, and had threatened to cancel their licenses if they refused to pay up.

Most of the complainants had alleged that Sharma had been extorting Rs 2,000 from each of them, the police had said.

Sharma had threatened to shut down the shops of those who resisted his demand, the complainants had told the police.