“Missing” since yesterday, the Gujarat Patidar pro-reservation agitation leader Hardik Patel resurfaced in Patdi town in Surendranagar district in the Saurashtra region this evening, about 26 hours after the police claimed he “escaped through an open field to evade arrest.”
The police said they had no information about the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti convener’s whereabouts. “Our first priority will be to produce him before the Gujarat High Court in view of the habeas corpus petition filed in the court,” Gandhinagar Range IG Hasmukh Patel said.
Hardik, captured by television channel crew holding discussions with his lawyer BM Mangukiya in a car outside Patdi town, claimed he was “abducted” by some “unidentified persons” and kept confined in a moving car throughout the last night.
“They threatened me all the time to stop the quota agitation and to withdraw the complaints against all policemen charged for excesses on Patidars during violence after the August 25 rally,” he claimed.
The police said they had no information about the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti convener’s whereabouts. “Our first priority will be to produce him before the Gujarat High Court in view of the habeas corpus petition filed in the court,” Gandhinagar Range IG Hasmukh Patel said.
Hardik, captured by television channel crew holding discussions with his lawyer BM Mangukiya in a car outside Patdi town, claimed he was “abducted” by some “unidentified persons” and kept confined in a moving car throughout the last night.
“They threatened me all the time to stop the quota agitation and to withdraw the complaints against all policemen charged for excesses on Patidars during violence after the August 25 rally,” he claimed.
