BJP corporator held in Vadodara Mayor defamation case

The civic body has also issued a show-cause notice to Alpesh in the likelihood of a disciplinary action from the party, Vadodara BJP President Dr Vijay Shah said.

The printed letter surfaced on July 8 and was sent by post to all office-bearers and elected representatives of the BJP as well as other prominent party leaders. The eight-point letter, drafted in Gujarati and titled ‘Recognise Nilesh Rathod’, accused the Mayor of “favouring builders” after having cleared a Rs-9 crore drainage network in the Tarsali town planning scheme 39, where there is no human population.

Rathod was also accused of favouring contractors, usurping money from a contract meant for a water-tank project, and illegal construction in his private hotel property. The letter also alleged that the Mayor’s elder brother had close ties with bootleggers in the area and was involved in incidents of assault and rioting at police stations. It added that Rathod has also siphoned off money from the funds of MLA Yogesh Patel and “collected bribes” from factory owners in Makarpura GIDC to halt demolitions of properties earmarked for a road project.

The arrest of Alpesh, who was appointed the Ruling Party Leader after the BJP retained control of VMC in February 2021, has come as an embarrassment for the party.

“It is an extremely painful incident for the BJP unit in the city as well as the state that a party leader, who has a post and also responsibilities, indulged in an act of defaming the reputation of the First Citizen of Vadodara, the Mayor. The letter had been circulating in Vadodara for over 10 days and we had begun a probe into it… The police probe has revealed that the letter was drafted and printed from his (Alpesh’s) computer at his (VMC) office. We are awaiting details,” Shah added.

He also said the party would “initiate disciplinary action” against Alpesh following instructions from the state executive once he responds to the show-cause notice served Monday. “We have given him four days’ time to reply… The leaders and the state executive will decide the course of further action in the matter…” Shah said.

The DCB has booked the accused under Indian Penal Code sections for forgery for the purpose of harming reputation (469), defamation (500), printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory (501), sale of printed substance containing defamatory matter (502), punishment for criminal intimidation (506), criminal intimidation by anonymous communication (507) and criminal conspiracy [120(B)].
Meanwhile, a local court has granted bail to Amit and Nai.

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