‘Case against AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava false’: Congress MLA Anant Patel writes to Gujarat CM, asks him to intervene

Later, talking to the media, he said, “Navsari police has been continuously keeping a watch on me and four constables and one police sub inspector were deployed outside my house on Sunday night, hours after I wrote a letter to the CM. On Monday, the police started following my movements, suspecting that I will visit Dediapada. I told them I am not visiting Dediapada but they are still following my movements.”

The letter, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, further mentioned, “An offence has been registered against MLA Chaitar Vasava at Dediapada police station by Forest department officials. The Forest department officials damaged the standing cotton crop on the agricultural land of a tribal farmer who got land under the Forest Right Act from the Forest department. The victim farmer had requested Chaitar Vasava for help.”

“In a joint meeting between the farmer and the forest officials, Vasava sorted out the issues and both the parties agreed. As per the solution, the forest officials should compensate the farmer for the damage to the crop, while in return, the farmer will not take any legal action against the forest officials. The forest officials had paid the farmer for the damage and the issue was resolved,” Anant Patel said in the letter.

It further mentioned, “Vasava had been regularly picking up the issues faced by tribals of his areas and in the recent floods. He actively took up the issues before the state government. The reason behind such steps against Chaitar Vasava may be due to jealousy or due to his activeness in taking up local issues and to curb the corruption done by the local administrations.”

His letter also mentioned that if the CM does not intervene, there will be protests across the state. “The issue will become an important issue in the tribal dominated areas in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha election,” Anant Patel’s letter threatened.

Talking to The Indian Express, Anant Patel said, “How come a police case was registered before taking views of Chaitar Vasava? I was attacked by a group of people, including BJP leaders, at the Khergam town in Navsari district last year on October 8. From 8 pm that day we kept requesting Navsari police to register an offence against the accused but they did pay heed to us. We sat on a dharna at the same spot and thousands of people gathered in my support which finally drove the police to register an offence against the accused at 3 am the next day. In the Chaitar Vasava case, the police should first listen to him and then take actions.”