Anand: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Gujarat State President and its MLA Jayant Patel was today arrested by Umreth police in his home district of Anand where he and and his supporters had allegedly created a ruckus at a science fair in Ratanpura yesterday and assaulted an official and two teachers for not mentioning his name in the invitation of the government programme, S P Anand Saruabh Singh said today.

Mr Singh said that a total of eight accused including Mr Patel alias Jayant Bosky, the MLA from Umreth in Anand district, and seven of his supporters were booked for assaulting public servants, rioting, unlawful assembly, trespassing and damaging public property.

Some of the accused including some local journos were already nabbed from a hospital in Nadiad while Mr Patel was arrested this noon.

To a query the SP said that the speaker of the assembly has been informed about the arrest of Mr Patel as per the rule. (Prior permission from the speaker is taken before the arrest while the house remains in session and he is informed about the arrest later if the house is not in session.)

According to police, the incident took place yesterday at a science fair organised by the Gujarat Education Department at Ratanpura village in Umreth Taluka.

Patel and his supporters allegedly stormed into the venue and started arguing with Rakesh Khira, who works at the District Education and Training Centre here, for not mentioning his name on the event’s invitation card, according to the complaint.

“Patel argued that being the sitting MLA of the area, his name must have been mentioned on the card. Though Khira apologised for the omission, Patel allegedly slapped him. In the FIR, Khira also claimed that Patel and his supporters manhandled two other teachers and damaged property.

DeshGujarat