Gujarat: Former Union minister seeks protection to take documents from home

The application filed on Monday states, “I (Bharatsinh Solanki) am the owner of a flat in Beverly Hills and store my important documents, passports as well as valuable items in my house… The accused (Reshma Patel) has trespassed into my house and I need police protection to be able to retrieve the above-mentioned important items from my flat.”

A separate complaint was also submitted by Solanki’s domestic help alleging that Reshma forced her way into the flat on Monday morning, accompanied by others and “broke open the locker and also removed valuables from the wardrobe and handed them over to the men accompanying her, in absence of my employer Bharatsinh Solanki”, on Monday.

The marital discord between Solanki and his second wife, Reshma, became public when both parties issued notices in newspapers, putting out their side of the story last year.

Thereafter, Reshma moved to the US but continued to put forth her case through social media, stating that “despite having served and nursed him (Solanki) through his Covid-19 phase, he threw me out of his house”.

Reshma has also claimed to have written to the Congress leaders in New Delhi, including Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra, and Rahul Gandhi, seeking “justice”.

Senior police officials said that Solanki and Patel had decided to part ways and Solanki had been living separately.

While Reshma Patel remained unavailable for comment, Solanki told The Indian Express, “I was forced to file a police application because my so-called wife entered my bungalow and captured it. I have important documents and valuables inside… This is a personal matter and I never intended to make it public but she has been maligning me despite my offer for alimony in lieu of divorce… she is misguided by people with vested interests and my political opponents.” The two have been married since 1999.