NRI killed after he complained to Gujarat govt against sect

Trivedi’s letter to Modi, a copy of which was made available to The Sunday Express by one of Trivedi’s family friends, names Jayashree alias Dhanashree Talwalkar, adopted daughter of Pandurang Shastri, who now heads the organisation.

In the letter, Trivedi alleged that in the past, too, “goons have attempted to kill our friends as they (Swadhyay Parivar leaderhip) feared that we would expose them in public, and we are getting regular threat calls from them.”

Trivedi claimed in the letter that a 200-page report on mismanagement of trust property, misuse of earthquake relief funds, and use of Trust property for personal purposes, had been sent to the state government calling for protection to Parivar members who had turned whistleblowers.

Asked about the letter and the report, the Officer on Special Duty in the Chief Minister’s Office said, “This is a very sensitive issue and we would not like to comment.”

Asked if Swadhyay Parivar officials were being investigated, Additional Commissioner of Police P K Jha said there had been no breakthrough so far, nor any reason to question anyone from the Swadhyay Parivar.

Trivedi’s family, which in the US, is expected to arrive in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Despite several attempts to reach Bharat Bhatt, a leading representative of the Swadhyay Parivar in Ahmedabad, he could not be contacted. Calls to his residence were met with the response that he was out of town.

There are others like Trivedi who allege they have been attacked. One of them is Satish Patel, BJP president of the Waghodia unit in Vadodara, who was attacked in January, 2003.

The attack was made on his employer Mahesh Shah and Patel got injured trying to save him. “As I am the local BJP leader here, seven people were arrested immediately after the attack but nothing has happened after that. The attack on Trivedi was similar and there is little doubt that the brain behind these attacks is the same,” stated Patel.

–PARIMAL DABHI & PALAK NANDI