Forged letter involving BJP leader: Controversy hits Gujarat party unit after police parade Patidar woman

The letter is said to have levelled allegations of corruption against BJP leader Kaushik Vekariya. It is said to be a result of internal rivalries between the ruling party leaders.

Ahmedabad: The public parading of a Patidar woman by Amreli police in a case related to a forged letter 'defaming' a local BJP MLA has snowballed into a major controversy with community leaders across party lines terming the act as an "insult of a daughter of the community."

A group of opposition and community leaders staged a protest and submitted memorandums to local administration seeking action against the police and the BJP leaders involved.

Last Saturday, the local police arrested Manish Vaghasia, Ashok Magroliya, who is associated with the BJP, along with Jitu Khatra and Payal Goti for allegedly forging a letter in the name of Kishor Kanpariya who is the president of Amreli taluka panchayat.

The letter is said to have levelled allegations of corruption against BJP MLA Kaushik Vekariya. It is said to be a result of internal rivalries between the ruling party leaders.

After the letter was widely shared and discussed on social media, Kanpariya filed a police complaint. The Police found the involvement of four suspects including the woman Goti, who was working as a computer operator with the co accused.

On Sunday, a police team took the victims to the office where the letter was allegedly forged to "reconstruct" the scene of the crime. On their way to reconstruction, the accused including the woman were paraded in full public view under the supervision of police.

While the local police have defended its action, the state is witnessing a spurt in conducting such parades of persons under arrest. Similar instances are being reported from across the districts and cities across the state. After video footage of the public parade in Amreli went viral, the local Congress picked up the matter and criticised the police for treating the woman as a "hardened criminal".

Congress leader and former MLA Pratap Dudhat shot off a letter addressed to the chief minister criticising the police action and alleging that it was done merely to 'satisfy the ego of a BJP leader'.

Goti is accused of typing the letter and converting it into a PDF file on the instruction of co-accused Vaghasiya. Dudhat while saying that "Payal is a daughter of Patidar community" claimed in his letter that she was merely following her employer's instruction.

On Thursday, former leader of opposition in the Assembly and ex MLA Paresh Dhanani, Aam Aadmi Party's Gopal Italia, both Patidar leaders, also took up the matter and criticised the police action. Many other Patidar leaders also held meetings to pressurize the complainant to take back the case against the woman.