After the suspected hooch tragedy, the ‘Merchants of Menace’, Jignesh Mevani, Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor and Hardik Patel, staying true to their ‘forever agitating’ image, decided to launch a stir against liquor and raid liquor dens all on their own.
Later that evening, the trio raided and allegedly found two pouches at a house in Adivata village, Gandhinagar. They then proceeded to circulate the video of the alleged raid.
Today, two days after this raid, the police has booked the ‘Merchants of Menace’ on charges of house trespassing and providing false evidence about the seizure of liquor from the house they raided.
After their raid, the trio had produced the two pouches of country liquor as evidence of the thriving illegal liquor business, and the police had later rubbished their claims in a press conference.
In fact, Gandhinagar SP Virendra Singh had said that the pouches of country liquor had been planted in that house moments before this raid was conducted by the three ‘ever agitating’ politicians.
“We have registered a case against them under IPC Sections 452 (house trespass), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 114 (abettor present when offence is committed) and 193 (punishment for false evidence),’” inspector VN Yadav of Sector 21 police station, told DNA.
The bizarre MLA Jignesh Mevani who probably needs help and was recently booked for sharing a morphed image of a columnist took to Twitter and questioned the state government as to why the trio was being booked. Jignesh Mevani has a history of being unstable and violent. A video had recently surfaced that showed Jignesh Mevani abusing police officers in the worst possible language. A case was registered earlier against him for ‘fomenting violence’ after he had instigated violence ahead of PM Modi’s Karnataka rally. He said on Saturday :
Instead of taking any action against the bootleggers, Gujarat Police files an FIR against me, Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakor for exposing that alcohol is being sold at a distance of 100 metre of District Superintendent’s office at Gandhinagar. Shame!
— Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) July 7, 2018
Hardik Patel who was recently welcomed and eggs and sandals and in April had a bailable warrant issued against him for not being present during his sedition case hearing, too took to Twitter to equate people making and selling country liquor to terrorists.
आतंकवादी जनता की जान लेता हैं और शराब का ठेके वाला भी !!
मेरे लिए गांधी के गुजरात में आतंकवादी और देशी शराब के ठेके वाले एक समान हैं।आज शाम पाँच बजे DSP ओफिस पर मैं @AlpeshThakor_ और @jigneshmevani80 गिरफ़्तारी देंगे
सामाजिक कार्य में सहयोग देना सरकार और पुलिस की ज़िम्मेदारी हैं— Hardik Patel (@HardikPatel_) July 7, 2018
Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor, the third pillar of the ‘Merchant of Menace’ trio said he wasn’t scared of such cases and that he will continue to take such steps.
“I am not afraid of such cases, I’ll take steps against liquor sale in Gujarat” says @AlpeshThakor_ ; https://t.co/cWmzMkg0xI#Gujarat pic.twitter.com/xSRc4ICwHh
— Tv9 Gujarati (@tv9gujarati) July 7, 2018
It is interesting, however, that neither of them seems to be defending themselves against the charges of trespassing and more importantly, falsifying evidence.
