JOIN USGujarat ATS 'foils' assassination plot of former BJP minister
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Wednesday claimed to have "foiled" an assassination plan aimed at former BJP minister Gordhan Zadaphia plotted by fugitive gangster Chhota Shakeel by arresting an alleged "sharpshooter" in a late-night raid in a hotel here.
Officials said that the motive behind killing Zadaphia could be his role in handling the situation post Godhra riots in 2002 when he was junior home minister in the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet.
The ATS officials said that they arrested Irfan Shaikh, in his mid-20s, from "Hotel Venus" under the Karanj police station area on Tuesday night based on "specific information" received by Deputy Inspector General of Police Himanshu Shukla.
On Tuesday midnight, Shukla along with Superintendent of Police Deepan Bhadran and two Assistant Commissioner of Police, K K Desai and ACP ATS BP Rojiya entered the hotel room where they found Shaikh.
"Initially he talked normally but after learning that we were police, Shaikh took out a pistol which he had hidden behind his back and fired pointing at Rojiya. Rojiya pushed him back in the nick of time and the bullet hit a corner of the ceiling and ricocheted to another corner. We overpowered him eventually before he could pull the trigger again," an officer who was on the spot said.
"Prima facie, we have gathered information that he was hired by the Chhota Shakeel gang in order to avenge the 2002 riots. We have found video footage of Kamalam (BJP headquarters in Gandhinagar) and images of the BJP leader who was possibly the target," Bhadran told DH.
Meanwhile, later in the day, Minister of State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja said in a press conference that “the target was BJP leader Gordhan Zadaphia. ATS had received information of two such suspects, one of whom has been held. The ATS is looking for the other suspect as well. We have requested the Director-General of Police to increase the security of our leader.”
Zadaphia was Minister of State for Home in 2002 when the Godhra riots happened. He left the BJP in 2007 and launched his own political party, Mahagujarat Janta Party. Zadaphia later joined former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel's Gujarat Parivartan Party to challenge Modi. He returned to the BJP fold in 2014 and has been helping the party in strategising election campaigns.