Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mevani and Alpesh Thakor booked for raiding woman's home; trio blame liquor mafia

Source Twitter

Gujarat: A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel and Gujarat MLAs Alpesh Thakor and Jignesh Mevani following a woman's allegation that the trio illegally raided her home for the same.

The woman, Kanchanben Makwana, said that the three leaders along with a dozen supporter accused her of selling alcohol before raiding her home located near the office of Gandhinagar Superintendent of Police. 

Protesting against the FIR, the three leaders later outside Gandhinagar SP's office, where the complaint was registered. The leaders were were booked for trespassing and other charges after allegedly leading a "raid" at a house where they claimed that liquor was illegally stored, an official said.

“That family has criminal background. We want to make state alcohol free,” Thakor said.

Taking to Twitter, Patel said that the despite booking them, the police agrees that the house they raided is the home of the 'liquor mafia' and several cases are registered against it. 

शराब पाबंदी को लेकर हम शराब माफ़िया के घर पर रेड करते है और पुलिस हम पर FIR करती हैं।आज हमने सामने से गिरफ़्तारी दी लेकिन पुलिस ने हमें गिरफ़्तार नहीं किया और पुलिस ने स्वीकार किया की आपने जिस शराब माफ़िया के घर पर रेड की थी वो शराब माफ़िया हैं और उस पर सेकेंडों गुनाह दर्ज हैं। pic.twitter.com/3dOvplOamq — Hardik Patel (@HardikPatel_) July 7, 2018

The complainant has alleged the trio and their supporters entered her house when no male member was present there. "They even planted two pouches of country-made liquor there to prove her house was a liquor den," Makwana was quoted as saying by inspector V N Yadav.

"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 said.

Earlier in the day, Patel tweeted that the "liquor mafia" can do anything in Gandhi's Gujarat, with the police and the ruling BJP giving them support.

Thakor, who has led anti-liquor agitations in the past, said the aim of the "raid" was to expose the police and the government's "inaction" to curb alcohol menace in the state. 

The three leaders had taken on the BJP in the Gujarat assembly elections held last year.

"Matter will be investigated. Videos of the incident will be scrutinised. Action will be taken based on results," Gandhinagar SP said.

With agency inputs