The BJP has begun the process of suspending its members accused in the alleged forged letter defaming the party’s Amreli MLA and deputy chief whip Kaushik Vekariya, The Indian Express has learnt. Meanwhile, Congress leader and former Amreli MLA Paresh Dhanani has extended his ‘Nari Swabhiman Andolan’ dharna, demanding justice for a woman who is among the four accused, by a day.
Four people, including two BJP members and the Patidar woman, are accused in the forgery case. “After the names of Manish Vaghasiya and Ashok Mangrolia (Jashwantgarh Sarpanch) came out during investigation, we have asked the taluka BJP president to suspend both of them. The suspension letter has been made and they will be suspended shortly. Manish Vaghasiya is president Amreli district coordination committee member of the party,” Amreli taluka panchayat president Kishor Kanpariya told The Indian Express.
Kanpariya’s official letterhead was allegedly misused to write the said forged letter addressed to BJP general secretary incharge of Gujarat, Ratnakar, with a copy to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, as per the FIR. “Manish Vaghasiya (one of the accused), who was earlier the Amreli taluka BJP youth wing president, took blank pages from my letterpad around eight-nine months ago. It was usual for him to take such pages from me for use during any development works to be done in the villages through gram panchayat and taluka panchayat. But he misused the letterpad, and hence, I filed a complaint before the Amreli police,” he added.
Kanpariya is the complainant in the case lodged at the Amreli town police station under various sections, including forgery. Barring the woman who is out on bail, the other accused are in judicial custody.
“The police have also recovered blank letterpads of three members of Amreli taluka panchayat and five letterpads of sarpanch of various districts (from the accused),” he claimed.
Dhanani, the former Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, who is on a protest dharna against the alleged parading of the woman accused during a “reconstruction” of the crime scene on December 29, said he will take the protest to Surat Monday.
However, Kanpariya backed the woman and her family. “They are residents of my own village and from day one, I was in support of them but due to the intervention of other people, we were on the backfoot,” he said.
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