By Rajesh Pandey
The Allahabad High Court on Monday granted bail to ex- Samajwadi Party MLA Irfan Solanki and his brother Rizwan Solanki in a criminal case of extortion pending in Kanpur Nagar.
The present bail application was filed on behalf of the applicants in a criminal case registered in the year 2022 under section 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the police station – Jajmau of Kanpur Nagar.
An FIR was lodged against the applicants on February 6, 2022, against Irfan Solanki and co-accused Rizwan Solanki, alleging that the accused persons wanted to take possession of the land of some poor persons, and objection was made by the informant. Thereafter, they threatened the informant and demanded Rs 10 lakh and ten percent as MLA tax from the informant – Akeel Ahmad.
Appearing on behalf of the applicants, their counsel, Imran Ullah, submitted that the applicant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in this case. The allegations leveled by the informant against the applicant are wholly false. At the time of the incident, the applicant, Irfan Solanki, was a Member of the Legislative Assembly, and he has been targeted due to political enmity. Besides, the applicant, Irfan Solanki, ishas been in jail since January 4, 2023.
While granting bail to the applicants, Justice Raj Beer Singh said, “The applicant, Irfan Solanki, has already undergone detention of more than two years. The applicant has a previous criminal history of nine cases, and after this case, he was shown to be involved in nine more cases. In the case of Prabhakar Tewari Vs State of UP 2020 (11) SCC 648, the Supreme Court observed that the pendency of several criminal cases against an accused may itself not be a basis for the refusal of bail. Considering the nature of the accusations coupled with argument that no case under section 386 IPC, and period of detention, the bail application of applicant is not liable to be rejected merely on the ground of criminal history and conviction”.
Though the bail has been granted in the present case of extortion to Irfan Solanki and his brother Rizwan, they will not walk out of jail because other criminal cases are pending against them, and they have yet to obtain bail in those cases.
