Bharat Bandh violence: ex-BSP MLA denied bail

The Meerut Chief Judicial Magistrate court on Wednesday denied bail to former Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Yogesh Verma, who was arrested on charges of inciting violence during the Bharat Bandh on April 2.

Harassment allegation

Mr. Verma and his wife Sunita Verma, who is also the Mayor of Meerut, alleged that they were being harassed for being BJP’s political opponent and were being illegally framed by the police.

Mr. Verma’s lawyer, Ravikant Bhardwaj, said that he had filed a bail petition before the District Judge which is likely to be heard on April 23.

Chargesheet submitted

The police had submitted a chargesheet against Mr. Verma and 87 others in five cases in the district court on Monday.

Superintendent of Police (City) Maan Singh Chauhan, who heads the SIT constituted to probe the violence, said Mr. Verma was booked in 11 cases and the police would soon file a chargesheet in six other cases.

Meerut Senior Superintendent of Police Manzil Saini told the media on Wednesday that Mr. Verma may be booked under the National Security Act.

“We will soon submit the police report to the District Magistrate with a request to slap NSA on Verma,” Mr. Chauhan said.

‘Wrongly charged’

However, Ms. Verma claimed that her husband was trying to persuade the crowd not to take law into their hands. “There are videos to prove that my husband was doing just the opposite of what he was charged with,” she alleged.