NEW DELHI, Aug. 2 -- A Delhi court on Friday discharged former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Naresh Balyan in an extortion case linked to absconding UK-based gangster Kapil Sangwan, observing that in the absence of any direct evidence, police probe was conducted on the assumption that "suspects were the culprits". Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Paras Dalal of Rouse Avenue courts, in an order delivered on Friday and released on Saturday, pulled up the prosecution for "losing crucial time" and "failing to collect direct evidence", showing the former legislator's links with the gangster. "There is not an iota of evidence that both accused persons (Balyan and Sangwan) conversed before receipt of threatening messages/audio recordings by the complainant...," the court said. Balyan is in judicial custody in a case under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. The former MLA from Uttam Nagar has been in prison since January 2025. He was later arrested in an MCOCA case lodged in August 2024. The extortion case was lodged on May 31, 2023, in which a complainant claimed that he received a threatening call from a caller who introduced himself as Sangwan alias Nandu, demanded Rs.1 crore as extortion money.htc...