Voice-matching test on Hardik soon; aides' houses searched

Ahmedabad: Police will conduct a voice spectrography test on Patel quota stir leader Hardik Patel, who along with five associates, is facing charges of sedition and "waging war" against the Gujarat Government, officials said on Sunday.

In a related development, Crime Branch sleuths late last night conducted searches at the houses of three aides of Hardik and claimed to have found "material evidence" in connection with the sedition case.

The voice-matching test, to be conducted in a day or two, was needed to verify claims of Ahmedabad Crime Branch that Hardik's phone interceptions revealed he intended to wage a war against the Government.

"We will conduct a voice spectrography test on Hardik Patel tomorrow or the day after in Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) at Gandhinagar," K N Patel, ACP (Crime Branch) told PTI.

Crime Branch late last night conducted searches at the houses of three Hardik aides - Chirag Patel, Ketan Patel and Dinesh Patel - who are also members of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) - on the city's outskirts and "found material evidence" in connection with the case, he said.

Besides Hardik and his three aides, two other leaders of PAAS - Alpesh Kathiria and Amrish Patel - were booked by Crime Branch under IPC Sections 121 (waging war against Government), 124 (sedition - bringing hatred, contempt or disaffection towards the Government), 153-A (promoting enmity between different communities) and 153-B (assertions prejudicial to national integrity).

"During the searches, we recovered two pen drives, one hard disk and one laptop. These items will be sent to the FSL for examination as part of the ongoing probe," Patel said.

The ACP said Crime Branch yesterday conducted voice spectrography test on Ketan, Chirag and Dinesh at the FSL with a view to substantiating the allegations against them in the sedition case.

Meanwhile, Hardik, who faces two cases of sedition (in Surat and Ahmedabad), was today produced before a city court which extended his police remand by seven more days.

He was booked for sedition by Crime Branch on October 21. The first case was filed against the 22-year-old firebrand Patel leader by Surat Police on October 19 for allegedly advising a youth of his community to kill policemen.

Hardik, spearheading the agitation seeking reservation under OBC category for the Patel community, has been hogging the limelight since he held a massive rally here on August 25. His detention from the venue had sparked state-wide violence, in which 10 people were killed.