Police arrested a person for allegedly throwing a stone at the car of Congress vice president, Rahul Gandhi, in Banaskantha district of Gujarat when he was on a tour of flood-hit areas .
Banaskantha Superintendent of Police, Niraj Badgujar, identified the accused as Jayesh Darji alias Anil Rathod.
Congress leaders claimed that he was a local office bearer of the BJP’s youth outfit.
“We have arrested one person named Jayesh Darji alias Anil Rathod for allegedly throwing a stone at the vehicle in which Gandhi was travelling,” Badgujar told PTI.
“We arrested Darji after his name was given by Congress members during the course of investigation,” Badgujar said.
“We will interrogate him about the incident. More names may come up as investigation progresses,” he said.
Representatives of the Congress party claimed that Darji belonged to BJP Yuva Morcha.
“Jayesh Darji is the secretary of Banaskantha district BJP Yuva Morcha. He is the man who threw the stone at Rahul Gandhi. We have also submitted names of three more persons who conspired along with Darji to throw the stone at Gandhi’s vehicle,” claimed district Congress general secretary Prithviraj Kathwadia.
The police added section 332 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (for voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty) in the FIR registered in connection with the incident after confirming that an SPG jawan was hurt, Badgujar said.
The FIR against unknown persons was filed under sections 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life) and 427 (mischief causing damage to property) of the IPC.
“We have confirmed that an SPG jawan who was travelling in the vehicle with Rahul Gandhi and was on the back seat of the vehicle sustained minor injuries from the glass that broke after getting hit by a stone,” he said.
The matter is being investigated by Additional Director General of Police Mohan Jha. Gandhi escaped unhurt after some unidentified persons threw a stone at the car in which he was travelling, breaking the glass pane of the rear window of the vehicle.
The incident triggered sharp protests from the Congress. Gandhi was on a visit to the flood-affected town.
Rahul Gandhi had to cut short his address to a gathering at Lal Chowk area of Dhanera in Banaskantha district, as black flags were waved at him by some of those who turned up for the meeting.
The Congress MLA from the area, Joitabhai Patel, is in Bengaluru along with 43 party legislators who have been flown to the southern city to fend off what the Congress claimed was poaching attempts ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls.
The politics in poll-bound Gujarat has been on the boil for quite some time with a section of the Congress, led by rebel leader Shankarsinh Vaghela, resigning along with half a dozen party MLAs.
After the process for election for three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat got underway, the BJP-Congress slugfest has only intensified.
The Congress has fielded Ahmed Patel as its candidate, while the BJP has nominated its president,Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani. The ruling party has also put up a Congress rebel as a third candidate.
(Feature image source: PTI )