JOIN USOn the day Gujarat High Court questioned the state government on sedition charges against Patel quota stir leader Hardik Patel, the Ahmedabad Crime Branch, arrested his close associates, Dinesh Bhambania and Chirag Patel for sedition.
Chirag and Dinesh are considered to be close to Hardik and are key PAAS members. The crime branch had also picked up Laljibhai, founder member of Sardar Patel Group from which Hardik and PAAS emerged, along with Chirag and Dinesh from outside the court premises.
“We have arrested only two persons. It is a procedure to inform next of kin about arrests so Laljibhai was accordingly informed of the arrests and he is already on his way home,” Rahul Patel, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch), told Deccan Herald.
Their arrest was made in a dramatic fashion on Wednesday evening, as men rushed in front of their vehicle to stop it as soon as they came out of the Gujarat High Court premises after the hearing on Hardik’s case.
While Hardik was charged with Sedition for asking a Patel youth to kill policemen instead of thinking of committing suicide, Patel leaders are charged with Sedition for giving out statements making claim to root out current government from power in the state.
The Crime Branch officials swooped down on them, even as their lawyer B M Mangukia and his female associate tried to seek answers from the policemen the charges against the Patel leaders.
At one point, a crime branch official was seen pushing the female associate of Mangukia by force to move her out of their way.