Irfan Solanki innocent, falsely implicated in criminal cases: Akhilesh Yadav defends party MLA

PTI, Dec 20, 2022, 11:36 AM IST

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday claimed that party MLA Irfan Solanki was innocent and he has been falsely implicated in criminal cases.

Yadav said police registered false cases against Solanki to keep him behind bars and also made a fake Aadhaar card to implicate him in yet another case.

He defended the MLA’s decision to be on the run, saying if he had not fled from Kanpur, police would have done the same as it did with Balwant Singh, who died in police custody, and Vikas Dubey, who was killed in an encounter.

Yadav, who met the party MLA in district jail here, alleged that it was a deliberate attempt of the BJP government to implicate SP MLAs and other leaders in criminal cases.

The BJP government has a plan to push the opposition leaders behind bars to win the next election, he claimed, adding it has even left the Britishers far behind.

Yadav said the opposition leaders are also being implicated in false cases to divert attention from real problems like inflation and condition of roads.

“If the MLA himself remains trapped, then how will he raise his voice against the problems,” he added.

Yadav said police officials should not forget that time always change and action may be taken against them.

Yadav spent over half an hour with Solanki at the jail.

He said he assured the SP MLA that the party is with him and will fight to get him justice.

Talking to reporters outside the jail after the meeting, Yadav said the SP will launch an agitation and even come on streets if the need arises.

Taking a jibe at BJP, he said, “Has the garbage been removed? Drains cleaned. Has the Ganges been cleaned? The cattle are still roaming around. How many people got employment.” “Out of 1.25 lakh people who came for Agniveer recruitment in Farrukhabad, not even 200 got jobs so far,” he added.

Solanki had surrendered earlier this month after being booked for rioting and arson at the house of one Nazir Fatima in a land dispute case on November 8.

The MLA, it is alleged, used fake Aadhaar to flee the city after the incident.