Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani was arrested by the Assam Police last night from a circuit house in Palanpur.
Ahmedabad:
Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani was arrested by the Assam Police late last night.
Mevani was arrested around 11.30 pm on Wednesday night from a circuit house in Palanpur and taken to Ahmedabad, from where he was taken to Assam this morning.
BJP leader Arup Kumar Dey from Kokrajhar in Assam had lodged a complaint against him.
Kokrajhar Superintendent of Police Thube Prateek Vijay Kumar told news agency ANI, “Kokrajhar Police arrested Congress Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani from Palanpur Circuit House last night.”
The First Information Report, or FIR, lists charges such as criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity between communities, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace, and sections of the Information Technology Act.
Mr Mevani’s Twitter account shows that two tweets posted by him on April 18 have been blocked on “legal demand”.
Twitter account of Jignesh Mevani reveals that tweets posted by him on April 18 have been blocked
“According to a document shared by Assam Police officials, an FIR has been registered on a tweet by Mevani a few days back. However, the tweet has been intercepted by Twitter. It was about Nathuram Godse. Mevani was earlier arrested in Ahmedabad. It was brought to Assam by road and then by air this morning,” Mr. Mevani’s aide Suresh Jat told news agency PTI.
Gujarat Congress President Jagdish Thakor and other Congress leaders reached Ahmedabad airport after receiving news of his arrest and raised slogans against the BJP government. He alleged that the police refused to show the FIR or give reasons for arresting Mr. Mevani.
Shri Mevani was elected as an independent MLA from Vadgam, Gujarat. But he extended his support to the Congress last year and said he would contest the state elections later this year as the party’s candidate.