Court orders police to present Naresh Tikait before it in 14-yr-old case

MEERUT The ACJM( MP/MLA court) court in Saharanpur has ordered police to arrest Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Naresh Tikait and present him in court on May 24 during hearing of a 14-year-old case.

Tikait , along with Congress leader Imran Masood and 22 others, was accused of blocking a road by holding a panchayat without seeking permission on May 20 in 2010.

A case was registered in Sarsawa police station on May 20, 2010 for organizing a panchayat and blocking the national highway. Imran Masood and many others accused in this case have got bail by now and the court issued an order on Tuesday for the arrest of BKU president Chaudhary Naresh Tikait for not appearing in court.

The court ordered SSP Saharanpur to arrest Naresh Tikait and present him in court on May 24. Tikait was not the president of BKU at the time of the incident. He had gone to attend the panchayat as a delegate. A case was registered against the accused under Sections 147, 283 and 341 of IPC.

Speaking to HT on phone, Naresh Tikait said it was a false case against him because he was never involved in acts like blocking the road. Instead, he helped the administration in persuading people to not block roads.

He said that he didn’t participate in any such panchayat in 2010 and did not know how his name was included in the case. “ I had no knowledge that my name was included in the case, so I didn’t approach the court in the past 14 years,” he said, adding that he always hounoured the courts and would appear in the hearing on May 24.

He reminded that the court absolved him from the charges of murder of Congress leader Jagbir Singh after a long trial of almost 20 years and he always cooperated during investigation and trial in court.