A Delhi court sentenced former MLA Rambeer Shokeen to four months in jail for failing to appear before it despite repeated summons.
The Delhi politician, who was declared a proclaimed offender after this, was an accused in a case related to the running of an organised crime syndicate in the Delhi-NCR region and registered under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). On August 23, he was acquitted of the charges under MCOCA.
While giving Shokeen a jail term in an order passed on August 26, Special judge Geetanjli Goel said it was not a fit case for release on probation.
“Considering the fact that the convict was earlier declared a proclaimed offender and was then arrested and had then again escaped from custody and was declared an absconder and surrendered only after considerable time had lapsed, the present is not a fit case to release the convict on probation,” the judge said.
“Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and to meet the ends of justice, it would be reasonable if the convict Rambeer Shokeen is sentenced to simple imprisonment for a period of four months,” Goel added.
The court, however, released him for the period he has already spent in jail. There is no other case pending against him, his lawyer said.
The prosecution had sought the maximum punishment of three years in the case, claiming that Shokeen was “highly placed and a Member of Legislative Assembly” and should have acted more responsibly. He ought not to have indulged in criminal activities, it said and added that he should have honoured the law, which he did not do.
Advocates M S Khan and Qausar Khan, appearing for Shokeen, had sought minimum punishment for the accused, claiming that their client was falsely implicated in the present case. They added that he was a person of repute in society and won elections as an independent MLA and his wife had also won elections as a councilor.
Delhi Police had lodged the case under MCOCA against Shokeen, gangsters Neeraj Bawana and Pankaj Sherawat and others. It described Bawana as “a symbol of lawlessness” and “kingpin” of the racket, and alleged that Shokeen was the “political face” of the syndicate, as he had used the clout of these criminals to contest assembly election to “further his political ambitions and gaining pecuniary benefits”.
All three were acquitted in the case of running an organised crime syndicate in the region. The judge also acquitted Bawana’s associates Naveen Dabas and Rahul Dabas in the case.
