Gujarat Police has booked Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti convener Hardik Patel and MLAs Alpesh Thakor and Jignesh Mevani on trespass and other charges for allegedly raiding a house where they claimed liquor was illegally stored, PTI reported on Saturday.
After over a dozen supporters claimed that a liquor den was being operated out of a woman’s house in Adivada village in Gandhinagar, Congress MLA Thakor, independent legislator Mevani, and Patel raided her home on Thursday. The woman, Kanchanaben Makwana, filed a complaint alleging that the three leaders and their supporters barged into her house when no male member was present.
She claimed that they had also planted two pouches of country-made liquor there to prove her house was a liquor den, Inspector VN Yadav told PTI. “Makwana, in her complaint, said she does not sell liquor and the two pouches recovered from her house were planted by the people who entered her home,” Yadav added.
They have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, including for house-trespass, assault or wrongful restraint, and intentionally giving false evidence.
On July 4, four people were hospitalised after drinking country liquor at Sola village in Ahmedabad. Mevani, Thakor and Patel carried out the raid after meeting the four people who were hospitalised. Thakor said the aim of the raid was to expose the state police and Vijay Rupani government’s failure to stop alcohol menace in Gujarat.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!