chandigarh-ropar-cops-spar-after-rs-papers-rejected

High drama was witnessed here on Tuesday when the rejection of nomination papers of a candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat from Punjab over forgery charges was followed by a face-off between the Chandigarh and Ropar police.

 

Navneet Chaturvedi, a resident of Jaipur who claims to be the national president of the Janata Party, said he would challenge the rejection of his nomination papers in the high court.

 

The Chandigarh Police, who were providing security to Chaturvedi, took him away before the Ropar police could arrest him. The Ropar police then followed the Chandigarh Police team to the UT police headquarters in Sector 9.

 

Now two candidates are in the fray for the election scheduled for October 24, including AAP nominee Rajinder Gupta and his wife Madhu, who is expected to withdraw her nomination papers on Wednesday.

 

The Ropar police had registered an FIR against Chaturvedi for forging the signatures of Ropar AAP MLA Dinesh Chadha, on Monday evening. During the scrutiny of the nomination papers in the Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh, eight Punjab MLAs were present. During the videography of the process, they alleged that the signatures that Chaturvedi had claimed to be theirs were fake.

 

While the Chandigarh police were taking Chaturvedi away, a Ropar police team led by SP Gurdeep Singh Gosal intercepted them in front of Sukhna Lake, leading to a spat. After the Chandigarh team called the control room, SSP Kanwardeep Kaur and others arrived at the scene and escorted them to the police headquarters.

 

While a large contingent of the Chandigarh Police has been deployed outside the UT police headquarters, the Ropar team is stationed at a distance, awaiting further orders. Ropar SSP Gulneet Khurana is holding a meeting with the Chandigarh DGP in connection with the case.

 

Chaturvedi had filed two nominations for the Rajya Sabha seat from Punjab, first on October 6 and then again on October 13. A Punjab Police spokesperson said the MLAs reported receiving messages and seeing social media posts which showed that their names were listed as proposers in Chaturvedi’s nomination papers.

 

Also read: Gupta files nomination for Rajya Sabha seat