Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has dismissed petitions filed by former Samajwadi Party functionary Nawab Singh Yadav and his alleged accomplices seeking to quash an FIR lodged in connection with an extortion and dacoity case registered at the Kotwali police station in Kannauj last year.A division bench comprising Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena passed the order while hearing a batch of petitions filed by Nawab Singh Yadav, Shivam Dubey, Sachin Yadav and several others.According to the FIR, on Dec 19, 2023, several associates of Nawab Singh allegedly visited the informant’s brick kiln to demand ‘rangdari’ (extortion) and forcibly took away Rs 1.5 lakh from the cash chest. The informant further alleged that he and his family had been repeatedly harassed due to the terror allegedly created in the area by Nawab Singh and his brother Veerpal Yadav alias Neelu Yadav. Complaints were submitted to various authorities, including through the chief minister’s grievance portal, and the informant claimed he was eventually forced to leave the town out of fear.While Nawab Singh is lodged in Banda Jail, his brother is in Kaushambi Jail.In its July 1 order, the court took note of the criminal antecedents of the petitioners and observed, “We notice that the first petitioner, Nawab Singh Yadav, admittedly has a criminal history of 28 cases. Though he has been acquitted in some of them, most appear to be pending, the details of which are given in a tabular form in Annexure 1 to the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the state govt.”The bench observed, “Likewise, the criminal history of the second petitioner in the leading petition comprises 29 cases. He, too, has been acquitted in some cases, but the majority are pending. These include cases under the Goondas Act and Section 307 of the IPC.”Dismissing the petitions, the court said, “In the totality of the circumstances, we do not find any merit in the writ petitions.”Last week, the Kannauj administration attached 11 properties worth Rs 5.25 crore belonging to the gang of former block head Nawab Singh and his brother Neelu under the Gangsters Act. The attached assets included three residential buildings and eight agricultural plots, which officials said were purchased using proceeds of crime.
