Cops goof up; 2 NRIs get summons for violence over quota row

Ahmedabad: In a goof-up, the city police wrongly issued summons to three persons, including two NRIs, for allegedly indulging in rioting in Krushnanagar locality here on August 25, after violence rocked parts of Gujarat over Patel community's agitation demanding reservation.

The issue came to light, when Virendra Patel, an erstwhile resident of Krushnanagar, who is now settled in Vadodara city, came to Krushnanagar police station here to respond to the summons issued against him.

Virendra told reporters that the police had sent the summons to him at his previous residence in Krushnanagar, the area where violence took place on the night of August 25. He was directed to remain present in the police station to record his statement in a case of riots and unlawful assembly.

"I had vacated that house eight years ago. After that I had changed my residences twice and ultimately shifted to Vadodara three months back," Patel said.

His wife Vanita Patel said the city police should have acted responsibly and instead of issuing summons to innocent people, they should have caught the culprits.

"As we proved our innocence and said we were not even living in the city when the incident occurred, the police realised their mistake and expressed their apology," she said.

According to a police official, two others, identified as Naitik Patel and Amit Patel - who have been living in Dubai and Australia respectively for around two years, were also issued summons in the same case.

When Assistant Commissioner of Police (G division), J N Parmar was asked about the blunder, he said their only intention was to get the clue about the riot case.

"We got information from our sources about the involvement of some persons. But as we later came to know that those people no more live in the city, we let them go. Our only motive was to get the clues about the accused and there were no other intentions," Parmar told reporters.

Cases of violence, including rioting and arson were reported across the state after the leader of the Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel was detained by the city police on August 25 from GMDC ground here. The violence had claimed ten lives, including that of a police constable.