Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday
stayed the arrest of Congress leader Sanjeev Awasthi, who was
held for possessing conterfeit currency earlier this year, in
connection with another FIR accusing him of having provided a
fake address for obtaining a SIM card.
A division bench comprising Justice Imtiyaz Murtaza and
Justice S S Tiwari passed the order on a writ petition filed
by Awasthi who was arrested with Rs seven lakh in counterfeit
currency from Kanpur on February 2, this year. An FIR in
connection with the incident was lodged on the same day at
Collectorganj police station of the town.
Awasthi had moved the court challenging another FIR
dated April 30, 2011, lodged at the same police station
alleging that the SIM card of his mobile phone was obtained on
the basis of a "fake address".
Appearing on behalf of the Congress leader, renowned
advocate Shanti Bhushan submitted that the entire matter was
aimed "only at harassing the petitioner" and that even if the
allegation of fake address was true, "the same could have been
mentioned in the FIR dated February 2 itself".
Bhushan said the petitioner, a Congress leader involved
in filing several litigations against corruption in
Mayawati-ruled Uttar Pradesh, was being "falsely implicated
because of political reasons".
Significantly, judgement on the bail application of
Awasthi, who has been in jail since his arrest, was reserved
by the court last week.
PTI
