Homeopathy doctor among 11 held for dacoity and vandalism at toll plaza near Veraval town

As the employees of the toll plaza got together, the accused sped away in their vehicle parked 150 m away from the toll plaza.

Anil Vaja, the son of Bij village sarpanch and a homeopathy doctor, a person named Vipul and a few unidentified men were booked under sections 395 (dacoity), 450 (house trespass with intent to commit offence punishable with life imprisonment), 427 (mischief causing damage of Rs 50) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

Less than 24 hours after the FIR was registered, teams of Local Crime Branch and Special Operations Group (SOG) of Gir Somnath district police detained 11 accused, including Vaja, and handed them over to Prabhas Patan police station. They were later formally arrested.

“Anil Vaja is a homeopathy doctor and the son of sarpanch of Bij village, also located on NH 51. Around two months ago, Vaja had a dispute with the Dari toll plaza staff over payment of toll tax and had assaulted the staffers… Vaja went to the toll plaza with 10 of his friends, all residents of neighbouring Sutrapada taluka, and vandalised toll booths and computers, among others,” SOG Inspector Sunil Israni said.

“We managed to arrest Vaja from near Visavadar in Junagadh district and picked up the rest of the accused from other locations,” he added.