Gandhinagar: Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Patel today alleged that congress leader and advocate Babu Mangukiya was trying to politicize the custodial death of a Patidar youth in Mahesana on ‘Mandavi pattern’ with an intention to incite the community against him and the BJP government.

Speaking to media persons here he said that Mangukia was instrumental in inciting people in Mandvi abduction and murder case, and on the same model he was now in Mahesana to incite the Patidar community against him and the government with a political intention.

Notably, Mangukia was earlier also the advocate of PAAS leader Hardik Patel and had filed a habeas corpus case in high court here well past midnight in 2015 in highly dramatic manner. He was later pulled up by the court also in the matter which the story of alleged abduction of Hardik by police could not be proved in the court of law. Mangukia was later removed from Hardik’s cases owing to his alleged failure to get him out on bail in sedition cases.

Dy CM Patel, also a senior leader of Patidar community who belonged to Mahesana, said that Mangukia for his own political interest incited the family members to not to accept the body of the youth owing to which his last rites could not be performed even after passage of several days after the death.

Patel said that it was necessary for him to let people know that Mangukiya (also a Patidar) was misleading the community.

Alleging that opposition Congress was playing ‘dirty politics’ in the incident of ‘unfortunate’ death of Ketan Patel, a resident of Balol village in judicial custody (jail) in Mahesana, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel had yesterday said that the state government has instructed Mahesana police to lodge an FIR in the matter and also the District Judge there had ordered a judicial probe in this matter.

Mahesana Bandh was observed on June 7 to protest the death while a North Gujarat Bandh on the issue was held yesterday during which a ST bus was also torched near Visnagar. Mangukiya was in Mahesana on the occasion.

The body of the deceased underwent second Post mortem today. The family had refused to accept the body.

‘The incident of death of Ketan who was caught for the alleged theft of a meager amount a few days ago, was unfortunate and the government want justice for his family members but doing politics for political gains over this tragic death was condemnable and inhumane. Leaders of Congress and other such elements who had been doing such politics on any tragic incident in the state in last few months, who had nothing to do with Mahesana had again reached there with similar motives. They even instigated the family members of the deceased and his relatives to not to do the last rites,” the Dy CM had said yesterday.

He had said that such incidents should not be made a matter of politics. But Congress which had also tried to do so in tragic incidents including Mandavi incident was trying all out to take political mileage for votes out of it.

DeshGujarat