NE NEWS SERVICE
JAMNAGAR, JUNE 14
A court in Jamnagar district on Monday acquitted BJP MLA Raghavji Patel and four others, who were sentenced to six months in jail by the trial court in a case of vandalising a hospital near here in 2007.
Patel, who was a Congress MLA at the time of the incident, and the four others had appealed against their conviction in the 14-year-old case.
The court of second additional district judge TR Desai at Dhrol town allowed their appeal against the October 10, 2020, order of the trial court sentencing the Jamnagar (rural) MLA and the four others to six months in jail, after giving them the benefit of doubt, Patel’s lawyer Manoj Vakil said.
Patel had won from Jamnagar (rural) on a Congress ticket in December 2017, but later resigned and joined the BJP. He won a 2019 Assembly by-election from the seat as the BJP candidate. He was acquitted along with the four others – Narendrasinh Jadeja, Jitu Shrimali, Jayesh Bhatt and Karansinh Jadeja – who all were booked on charges of causing damage to public property, assault and using criminal force on government servants, among others, during the incident dating back to August 10, 2007.
As per an FIR lodged at the Dhrol police station, Patel and his supporters had gone to a hospital in Dhrol to submit a memorandum and forced their way into the office of a doctor.
They resorted to vandalism and caused damage to the hospital property, as per the FIR. They were booked under IPC sections for unlawful assembly, rioting, assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from performing his duty, damage to public property, among others, and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, the police said. The trial court had earlier rejected the state government’s plea to withdraw the case against Patel after he joined the ruling BJP.
