Protest outside BJP candidate’s office in Surat, police book 15 unknown persons

GNN | Nov 25, 2017, 5:45 PM IST|

Surat police on Friday booked 15 unknown persons for illegal assembly and raising slogans outside a BJP election office at Yogi Chowk in the city. They also released three Congress candidates Bhavesh Rabari (Karanj), Dinesh Kachhadia (Surat East) and Dhirubhai Gajera (Varachha), who were detained Thursday night for protesting outside Varachha police station, in the morning.
The detention of the Congress candidates followed a series of events beginning Wednesday night when around six unidentified youths pelted stones at the election office of V D Jhalavadia, the BJP candidate for the Patidar-dominated Karanj seat, at Yogi Chowk. While the stone-pelters fled the spot immediately, police did not register a complaint in this connection. The election office was scheduled to be inaugurated Thursday night, an Express News Service report said.
According to sources, on Thursday night when Jhalavadia was inaugurating his office in the presence of several BJP leaders, a group of youths reached there on 15 motorcycles and started raising “Jay Sardar, Jay Patidar” slogan, synonymous with the Patidar quota agitation. The BJP workers and leaders did not react to the incident, police said, adding that the protesters left the spot after sometime.
On the other hand, police intercepted another group of youths riding motorcycles and raising Jay Sardar, Jay Patidar slogan near the election office of Praveen Bhoghari, the BJP candidate from Kamrej. Three youths were detained, while others managed to escape, some leaving their motorcycles at the spot. As the news spread, the Congress candidates, Surat Congress women wing ex-president Bhartiben Patel and Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti co-convener Alpesh Katheriya, along with their supporters, reached Varachha police station protesting the detention of the three youths.
The protesters were detained following a heated exchange of words with police officials. They were released at around 4 am on Friday. Meanwhile, Sarthana police have registered an offence against the group of unknown youths who raised slogans outside V D Jhalavadia’s office Thursday night. They have also been booked for rioting and violation of a notification by the police commissioner.
Sarthana police inspector R L Dave said, “We are trying to identify the accused through CCTV footage. We have got some names and have we have sent our teams to identify and arrest them. They were trying to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere in Yogi chowk area by chanting slogans outside the BJP election office.”