Four days after FIR, AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava continues to elude police

His second wife, Varsha, and three children had also left the residence following Shakuntala’s arrest. However, they have returned along with Varsha’s maternal family.

Even as six police teams have fanned out to look for Chaitar, the MLA is believed to be in hiding while “seeking legal remedy”. “It is not unnatural for someone to be out of public sight for four days. If he (Chaitar Vasava) is an MLA, doesn’t he have the right to take a break or just be by himself? Neither have the police or any other legal authority declared him ‘absconding’ nor can they do so,” Chaitar’s party colleague Gopal Italia told The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, his wife Shaktuntala, personal assistant Jitendra and the third arrested who are in judicial custody, moved the district sessions court in Narmada Monday seeking bail. Italia is also Shakuntala’s counsel in the case.

“While I have not spoken to him (Chaitar) at all (after the FIR) and am not aware of his whereabouts, I have also not asked my client and his wife, Shakuntala, when did she last speak to him… All I can say is that he has the right to take his time to seek legal remedy and explore his options for this (legal) fight,” he added.

At his home in Dediapada’s Bogaj, relatives refuse to answer phone calls or entertain many guests. A source close to the leader said his wives have decided to “keep distance” from media and political leaders until they hear from Chaitar.

Political circles are abuzz with the possibility of Chaitar hiding in Rajasthan with the backing of his party. But his AAP colleagues say they are “unaware” of his location.

“We have formed six teams to search for Chaitar Vasava… All we can say is that no police team is currently outside Gujarat for the search,” Narmada district Superintendent of Police Prashant Sumbe said on Monday.

Meanwhile, Chaitar’s aides Monday undertook a “complete cleansing” of the WhatsApp groups run by the MLA by deleting all unknown persons, especially mediapersons.

“We do not want any communication to leak out to the people who have conspired to pin down our fiery leader, right after they saw his popularity during the ulta-Dandi March against the issue of Gyan Sahayak programme… Chaitarbhai has not been in touch with anyone since the past four days but we are confident that he will come back with a fitting reply to those who have embroiled him in this false case and even harassed his family… The BJP still thinks that by pressuring him they will get him to join their party but this case will only make Chaitarbhai’s resolve stronger to fight,” a source close to the leader said.

According to Italia, the FIR has named seven other accused — Shakuntala, Jitendra, farmer Ramesh Vasava and his wife from Jhadoli village, and three villagers from Bogaj village, including two daughters and a son-in-law of a man named Dungarji Vasava. The FIR mentions two unidentified men as well.

“According to the FIR, the forest officials gave an ‘oral notice’ to the farmers to remove their crops from the alleged encroached land and then later went and removed the standing cotton crops. The question to be raised is if this is the procedure to be followed by the government forest department in case of an alleged encroachment? The allegation of encroachment is anyway questionable itself as the land of the farmer, who has been arrested belongs to him as per a 2009 letter of the forest department. So, how were the crops an encroachment?” Italia said.

He added that according to the FIR, there is no role ascribed to Shakuntala in the incident. “The FIR only states that Shakuntala was present when the five officers arrived at Chaitar’s house in Bogaj, which is under construction… Thereafter, Chaitar arrived an hour later and the alleged incident took place but Shakuntala’s involvement has not been mentioned. So has she been booked only for being present in her own house?” he asks.

The AAP National Joint Secretary also questioned the delay in the lodging of the FIR by the complainant and the FIR being classified as sensitive by the police. “What is sensitive in a routine crime even if the alleged incident has occurred? In fact, the police should make it public and issue a press note. What are they hiding?” Italia says.

Meanwhile, according to police sources, the forest officer has stated in the complaint that Rs 60,000 was allegedly paid to the two farmers, whose crops were removed by the forest department during its patrolling after “orally instructing” them to remove the encroachments. The sum, the police officials said, was paid after Chaitar allegedly intimidated the forest officials and threatened to kill them, as per the complaint.

The sources added that the forest officer has also mentioned in the complaint that an “unidentified person” brought out a pistol on Chaitar’s instructions from an under-construction room in the MLA’s house and fired two rounds in the air to intimidate the officials.

Chaitar, who began his career as a gram sevak, quit his job to join the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) under Chhotubhai Vasava and his son Mahesh Vasava, who was the Dediapada MLA from 2017 to 2022. An influential leader in Dediapada, Chaitar quit the BTP and joined AAP ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls.