Rajkot: Rajkot Chief Judicial Court court has declared Kutiyana NCP MLA Kandhal Jadeja as convict in the case of absconding from police custody. The court has given one and half year imprisonment term to Kandhal. However Kandhal has stayed in jail for 19 months already in this case and therefore he will not need to go to the jail. As the term is less than two years, Kandhal will be able to contest upcoming assembly election. The court has acquitted 13 other accused in this case.

Kandhal Jadeja had absconded from police custody from Shivani hospital at Vidhyanagar road in Rajkot on 5th February 2007. The case was going on in the court against 14 persons including 4 policemen, 3 doctors and Kandhal Jadeja. There is a provision of 2-year imprisonment for this offence.

The police had booked 9 persons including Kandhal Jadeja, and Kana Jadeja in murder of former councilor Keshu Nebha Odedra in 2005 in Porbandar. He was then kept in Rajkot jail as an accused of murder, from where he absconded from the hospital. The police found him again in 2009 from Maharashtra and produced him in the court with a demand of 15-days remand. The court had rejected the demand, after which the police challenged the court’s order in the sessions court. The court had declared 8 accused including Kana Jadeja innocent in July 2021 in the murder case. DeshGujarat