A politician who vowed to clean up Westminster spent the weekend behind bars after being accused of attacking his wife.
Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Sanjay Samani spent three nights in police custody after being arrested in connection with domestic abuse allegations.
Cambridge University graduate Samani – who has been a critic of Scotland’s single police force – was charged with assaulting his wife Claire on Friday.
He was taken into custody and detained over the weekend with his name appearing on a list of prisoners due to appear from custody at Perth Sheriff Court.
However, before he was called into court prosecutors took the decision to give him a Procurator Fiscal’s release and he was freed from cells at noon.
Outside court, Samani – who has represented the Lib Dems in two General Elections and one Scottish Parliament election – declined to comment on his weekend behind bars.
He confirmed he had been granted a PF’s release and said: “I have got nothing to say about it.”
Samani, who has also been his local community council chairman, was the prospective parliamentary candidate for the Angus constituency in last year’s General Election.
Among his stated campaign aims was to clean up the dirty politics of Westminster and he was a fierce critic of the decision to amalgamate Scotland’s police service into a single force.
He was also the Liberal Democrat candidate for Angus at the 2010 General Election, and for Angus North & Mearns in the 2011 Scottish Elections.
In 2015, he trailed home fifth among the eligible candidates and polled just 1,216 votes as the Lib Dem share in the seat slumped to just 2.7 per cent.
According to his official party profile: “Sanjay is married to Claire, from Fife and they have one son, 9, at school and an adopted daughter, 2.
“They live in Alyth where he was, until recently, Chairman of the Community Council and was previously Chairman of the Alyth 2020 committee, consulting residents about the future of their town.
“Sanjay is an IT Project Manager and as a small business owner understands the pressures they face when stifled by red tape, excessive regulations and tax increases.”
He has paraded at the local Gala day and demanded local produce in local shops.
His profile states: “His political goals are to improve children’s welfare, improve cancer outcomes, improve support for patients with mental health issues and to clean up politics at Westminster.
“He has campaigned hard on huge budget overruns in the NHS IT system, and called for scrapping expensive projects doomed to failure.
“Sanjay has backed many local campaigns in Angus. He has backed small businesses, highlighted the dangers of a single Scottish Police force and backed local campaigns for action on legal highs.
“Sanjay understands that all MPs should work hard on local issues for their constituents but that they also need to drive through changes at Westminster so that our views are heard. Angus voters have made clear they want to be part of the UK and they need an MP who can and will deliver more powers for Scotland and clean up politics at Westminster.”
A Crown Office spokesperson said: “The Procurator Fiscal has received a report concerning a 42-year-old man in relation to an alleged incident in Alyth on 22 January 2016.
“After full and careful consideration he was liberated from custody and did not appear in court.”