Radadia arrested for attack on Rajkot Collector’s office

Dhoraji-Jamkandorna Congress MLA Vithal Radadia was arrested on Monday in connection with the attack on Rajkot District Collector’s office on December 4. Around 171 Congress leaders and workers including two MLAs — Devji Fatehpara (Hadvad) and Popat Jinjaria (Chotila) — were arrested on charges of rioting and unlawful assembly. The Congress leaders had gone to the collector’s office to submit a memorandum to protest against the arrest of Jasdan MLA Kunvarji Bavalia for his alleged links in the land scam.

Unlike Fatehpara and Jinjaria, Radadia and Wankaner MLA Javeed Pirzada were not arrested on the same day of the incident, as they were inside the collector’s office. One of the most influential Congress leaders in Saurashtra, Radadia was arrested a couple of days after the Congress public meeting in Jasdan was held on December 9 to protest Bavalia’s arrest. Pirzada was arrested on December 9.

On December 4, the protestors damaged six huge panes and the garden in the front entrance of collector’s office on Shroff Road, in which two mamlatdars were injured. The total damage has been estimated to the tune of Rs 5 lakh by the Road and Building Department, sources said. Although Rajkot Commissioner of Police’s office had given permission to seven Congress leaders only, a large number of party workers thronged the collector’s office and allegedly resorted to stone pelting when they were denied entry inside the collector’s office.