Tensions have escalated in Amreli following the public parade of a woman arrested along with three others last week for creating and circulating a fake letter that defamed Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) MLA Kaushik Vekariya.
While senior police officials defended the action as legally justified, the local Congress unit strongly condemned it, accusing the police of treating the woman like a hardened criminal.
Former Savarkundla MLA Pratap Dudhat wrote to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, alleging that the police’s actions were aimed at satisfying the ego of a BJP leader.
On Saturday, the police arrested Manish Vaghasiya and Ashok Mangroliya, both BJP workers, along with their associates Jitu Khatra and Payal Goti, a computer operator. Mangroliya is the sarpanch of Jasvantgadh village.
The arrests followed allegations that Vaghasiya created a fake letter using the letterhead, signature and seal of Kishor Kanpariya, president of the Amreli Taluka Panchayat, containing defamatory content about Vekariya. The letter, which made serious allegations against the MLA, quickly spread on social media, prompting Kanpariya to file a police complaint.
On Sunday, the police reconstructed the crime scene by taking all four accused, including Payal, to Vaghasiya’s office, where the letter was allegedly drafted. During this exercise, Payal was paraded in public while being escorted by police officers.
According to the police, Payal, a computer operator, typed the letter as per instructions from Vaghasiya, converted it into a PDF, and sent it to him. The letter was then forwarded to the state BJP and the union home minister’s office, following his directives.
In his letter to the Chief Minister, Dudhat stated that Payal, a member of the Patidar community, was merely following her superior’s instructions and had no intention of committing any crime.
He claimed the police’s action of parading her in public during the reconstruction was done for the benefit of a BJP leader and was an unlawful act. Dudhat also wrote to Naresh Patel, a prominent Leuva Patel leader and trustee of the Khodaldham Temple Trust, urging him to call for strict action against the police officials involved.
Jenny Thumar, a Congress leader, also criticised the police for arresting Payal at midnight as if she were a notorious criminal. She pointed out that Payal’s face was shown publicly during a press conference, which is typically not true for those arrested for serious crimes.
Even some BJP members expressed concern over the handling of the situation. Bharat Kanabar, an Amreli BJP functionary, remarked that Payal was simply performing her duties and should not have been treated like a criminal by the police.
However, Sanjay Kharat, the Superintendent of Police in Amreli, defended the police’s actions, explaining that the accused’s presence was essential during the crime reconstruction.
He stated that during the investigation, it was discovered that the accused had been in contact and had deleted important WhatsApp messages, destroying key evidence. To recover this evidence, it was necessary to take the accused to the crime scene, and the police followed due legal process throughout the case.
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