The Allahabad High Court today extended till September 20 the stay on the arrest of former Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh in connection with a corruption case lodged against him at Kanpur.
The order was passed by a Division Bench comprising justice Imtiyaz Murtaza and justice Naheed Ara Moonis on a writ petition filed by Mr Singh, who has challenged the FIR lodged against him at the Babupurwa police station of Kanpur.
The expelled Samajwadi Party leader was present in the court accompanied by eminent lawyer and fellow Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani, who was recently elected to the Upper House on a BJP ticket.
The impugned FIR, lodged on October 15, 2009, by a Kanpur resident Shivakant Tripathi, has accused Mr Singh of having committed financial irregularities to the tune of crores of rupees when the Samajwadi Party was in power in Uttar Pradesh.
It has been alleged in the FIR that Mr Singh, who was then chairman of the UP Development Council, had used his influence in awarding contracts to various companies.
However, Mr Singh has refuted the allegations saying the post held by him was advisory in nature and he did not enjoy the power to award contracts.
The court had first granted a stay on his arrest in December 2009 and has been extending the same since then while making it clear that the state police had been restrained from arresting Mr Singh only on charges under the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The court has also made it clear that if the Enforcement Directorate chose to probe the charges under the Money Laundering Act levelled against Mr Singh, it was free to take whatever action it considered necessary.