Booked for threatening forest officials, Gujarat AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava untraceable; his wife arrested

He added that the FIR – which has been classified as “sensitive” – was lodged on November 2 under Indian Penal Code sections for rioting, extortion and assault and threatening a public servant in discharge of his duty as well as under provisions of the Arms Act.

The three persons arrested are the MLA’s wife Shakuntala Vasava, who is also a district panchayat member of Narmada; Chaitar’s personal assistant (PA) Jitendra and a villager named Ramesh Vasava, who was allegedly instructed by forest officials to clear his “farm”, as it was an “enroachment on forest land”.

The police said that forest officials had asked Ramesh and other villagers to clear encroachment from forest land on October 29. A day later, Chaitar allegedly summoned the forest officials to his residence and intimidated them in a bid to “obstruct them from clearing the encroachment”.

The FIR, lodged at Dediapada police station, alleged that Chaitar and his family abused five forest officials and assaulted one of them, who later filed a complaint with the police.

Sumbe said, “Around 8 pm on October 30, when the forest officials came to Dediapada MLA Chaitar Vasava’s house, he made them queue up and abused them. He also assaulted one of them and intimidated the officials to pay money to the villagers (whose farms had been cleared). If they failed to do so, he threatened to kill them. He also fired a round in the air with a weapon.”

“The next day, his PA contacted the same officials and reminded them to make the payment to the villagers. One of the villagers has also received the money. We registered the offence on November 2 when the forest officials approached the police,” he added.

“We have arrested Shakuntala Vasava, as she was present when threats were made… she is also said to have actively threatened the officials… We are investigating if the weapon that Chaitar Vasava used to fire a round in the air belongs to him because as per our primary investigation, he does not have a licensed weapon. Nevertheless, he has been booked under Arms Act, as he pulled out a weapon and fired it in the air,” the SP said.

Despite repeated attempts, Chaitar remained unavailable for comment.

However, Gujarat AAP leaders took to social media to condemn the FIR, stating that it was a “ploy by the corrupt BJP” to silence AAP.

State leader Gopal Italia wrote on X, “Corrupt BJP has lodged a false FIR against AAP’s fiery and efficient tribal MLA, who is also a powerful leader of his community. They have also arrested his wife…”

AAP Gujarat president, Isudan Gadhvi, also posted: “The BJP has hatched a conspiracy to harass AAP MLA and we will fight with our might against it. The BJP will pay the price for harassing Chaitar Vasava and his family in such wrong ways.”

In support of Chaitar, traders in Dediapada announced a bandh on Saturday. “Some of Chaitar Vasava’s supporters have given a call for bandh but we will not allow anyone to forcibly close shops… We have deployed police personnel and will deal with anyone taking the law into their hands,” Sumbe said.

Vasava is one of the five MLAs of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to be elected in the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections. The tribal MLA was later appointed the AAP’s legislature party leader in the state.