Four days after his arrest in a case linked to alleged defamation of Mayor Nilesh Rathod, the Gujarat BJP suspended former Ruling Party Leader of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), Alpesh Limbachiya, for six years. The decision to suspend Limbachiya was conveyed by BJP city unit President Dr Vijay Shah on Saturday. However, Limbachiya, who had been served a show-cause notice, had sent a response late Friday denying the allegations, said party leaders. Following the suspension, Limbachiya, a corporator from Ward 17 from which Mayor Nilesh Rathod is also elected, will continue to remain a corporator but in his independent capacity. Limbachiya was arrested on July 24, two days after the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) arrested Amit Limbachiya and Aakash Nai — both related to the former. The three have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for forgery, defamation, and criminal conspiracy after an anonymous letter surfaced on July 8 accusing Rathod of corruption of "favouring builders", corruption and siphoning off money from the funds of MLA Yogesh Patel, among other allegations. The letter was sent by post to all the office-bearers and elected representatives of the BJP as well as other prominent party leaders. All three accused were subsequently granted bail.
