Former Deputy Mayor awarded six-month jail for slapping then ward officer in 2014

A local court in Vadodara  sentenced former BJP  Deputy Mayor of Vadodara Municipal Corporation, Yogesh Patel (Mukti), to six months imprisonment in connection with a 2014 case of slapping the then Ward Officer during an anti-encroachment drive in city’s Karelibaug area.

Patel was accused of causing voluntary hurt, misbehaviour along with obstructing a ward officer from duty during an anti-encroachment drive in the city’s Karelibaug area.

The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate AS Shaikh examined 16 witnesses in the case and also considered 22 documentary and oral evidences during the proceedings. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 on Patel.

While the prosecution emphasised that Patel being an elected representative had a “responsibility of setting a fine example” and had “failed to do so”, the defence argued that the complainant, Jagmal Nandaniya, was not present at the spot when the incident occurred. The FIR in the case, lodged at Karelibaug police station, by former Ward Officer Jagmal Nandaniya  had stated that Patel had slapped him after he refused to give in to Patel’s demand of releasing the  street carts that had been removed as part of the drive.