Gujarat police chief Vikas Sahay on Saturday ordered strict action on “anti-social elements” that could range from demolitions of their encroached properties, to possible cancellation of bails and asked every police station to draw up lists of such people in their areas “within the next 100 hours” (by Wednesday). On Friday, one such “illegal portion” of a house belonging to an alleged bootlegger was demolished in Morbi. The orders followed several incidents of violence in public, show of force, assault, destruction of property and flagrant display of weapons, including attacks with swords and guns as well as attacks on the police reported across the state in the last few months, that created challenges to the law and order situation. Issued to Commissioners, Inspectors General and Superintendents in a video conference by the Director General of Police (DGP) Sahay, it comes in the context of the latest bout of gunda violence in Vastral area of Ahmedabad on Holi (March 13) when 14 miscreants went on a rampage, with sticks and swords, hitting random people and destroying property on the roads of the city. The order also came concurrently with the joint police and municipal corporation action which saw the demolition of the illegally constructed houses of 6 out of 14 accused in the Vastral violence case. The houses of six of the arrested accused were found to be constructed illegally and were demolished in Amraiwadi and Khokhar areas of Ahmedabad. A total of 14 persons, one of them a minor, had been arrested by Ramol police for attacking riders and locals in Vastral with sticks and swords, leaving three injured and as many vehicles damaged, said PI SB Chaudhari on Saturday. Speaking to mediapersons after his video conference, DGP Vikas Sahay said, “To maintain and increase law and order in the state of Gujarat, and to bring a sense of security to the people, the state has decided to take a whole-of-government approach and take strict action against anti-social elements. The Gujarat Police takes every anti-social incident very seriously and especially when these incidents spread fear among the common public.” “Today, through a video conference with Commissioners, Range IGs and Superintendents, I have ordered each police station in Gujarat to compile a list within the next 100 hours, of all Gunda tatvo (anti-social elements), regardless of whether they are accused in bodily harm, bootlegging, gambling, protection rackets, extortion, etc." On action to be taken against these anti-social elements, DGP Sahay said, “After these lists have been drawn up, we have made a further plan of action to take disciplinary action against all these people. If these anti-social elements have done illegal construction, have encroached on public property, have taken illegal electric connections, have not followed rental regulations, have received bail in earlier cases but those bails have not yet been cancelled, we will be taking strict action in conjunction with civil authorities.” The Indian Express has learnt that the implementation of this plan began with the orders being passed down to the Constabulary in each police jurisdiction during the roll call that took place at 8 pm across Gujarat where all local police inspectors and sub-inspectors informed their staff about the exercise to be completed over the next four days. District police chiefs The Indian Express spoke to, said that, based on recent incidents of violence and documented cases, dossiers will be prepared on history sheeters and details of their illegal activities to begin punitive action “allowed by law”. Commissioners and Superintendents of Police will not only be cooperating with civic administrations to take such action against anti-social elements in their jurisdictions but also co-operate amongst themselves to ensure action with such persons who are involved in crimes across more than one jurisdiction. The Surat case A group of youths, including the son of a local bootlegger, had put an open challenge to Surat police to identify them. These youths painted black colour on their body and travelled on the bonnet of the black colour jeep in the Ghanshyam Nagar area in Varachha on March 13. The videos had gone viral on social media in which these youths were heard using abusive language. Varachha police had taken action and, on the basis of the vehicle registration number, identified the youths and arrested 10, including Hiren Gohil, son of listed bootlegger Kamlesh Gohil, on Friday. Police had made them do sit-ups on the main road in Varachha. In the second incident, a group of five youths armed with knives and swords came into Sejalnagar residential society in Sachin on Friday evening. They alighted auto rickshaws and spread terror among the local people by showing sharp weapons and also assaulted a few of the bystanders. However, the public was terrified of such an act by unknown youths. Some of the youths of the residential society had pelted stones on them. Slowly, a large number of people gathered on the spot. The youths fled the place in an autorickshaw. The locals obtained CCTV footage of the incident and handed it to Sachin police, and filed a complaint against five unknown youths. Sachin police had started hunt of these youths. Other public violence cases There have been several incidences of open violence by these gunda elements across Gujarat in the recent months. On March 14, 2025, the Morbi district police, along with the civic administration, demolished the house of Rafiq Haji, the brother of notorious bootlegger Iqbal Haji alias 'Eco Mover'. The house was illegally built atop encroached government land, said local officials. This bulldozer roving of the house came in retaliatory action after Iqbal Haji's family members had allegedly assaulted and injured 6 police personnel during a raid at their liquor den in Khirai village of Maliya Miyana taluka of Morbi on March 5. A total of 10 persons had been arrested by the police in that case. On February 15, 2025, there was a “drive-by shooting” by members of a gang against those of another, from a moving car in broad daylight in the Punitnagar area of Rajkot. Parikshit alias Paresh Balda was standing with his friends in a bylane at about 5:30 pm. At that time, a white colour Hyundai Verna sedan with four occupants drove by them. One of the occupants of this vehicle allegedly fired a shot from a pistol, injuring Balda on his left leg. This was part of a rivalry between two gangs which had led to intervention from Rajkot CP Brajesh Kumar Jha. On January 10, 2025, about six to eight miscreants caused a public scare at the upscale Zydus crossroads just outside Palladium mall on SG Highway in Ahmedabad allegedly carrying naked swords and fighting on the road with heavy traffic movement, videos of which went viral. The incident took place at 1 am and had taken place in retaliation of one gang against another in revenge over a previous assault between the two groups. On November 18, 2024, two separate FIRs were lodged in Karelibaug and Raopura police station after two groups clashed in Nagarwada area late at night, allegedly due to a dispute over gambling money, leading to eventual stabbing of Tapan Parmar, the son of a BJP leader. According to the police, Wasim Mansuri had sustained injuries in a fight with Vikram Parmar. Following this, Mansuri's aide Babar Pathan had allegedly hunted down Vikram and stabbed him grievously. An FIR for attempted murder against Pathan, Mansuri and others was lodged at Karelibaug police station in the case. While both Mansuri and Vikram were undergoing treatment at SSG hospital, Tapan Parmar had visited the hospital to meet the latter. Around that time, Pathan, too, had arrived at the hospital along with the police but allegedly managed to distract the accompanying officers before stabbing Tapan to death on the hospital premises. The Raopura police station has booked Pathan, Mansuri and his wife as well as other common accused in both FIRs in the murder case. On September 29, 2024, a gang of bootleggers armed with swords and sticks attacked Shivam Arcade society in Ghatlodia area of Ahmedabad, which is CM Bhupendra Patel's constituency. The consorted assault that resulted in injury to three society members, occurred when residents questioned the bootlegging business being run by the gang from a rented premises in the society. Around 8 pm, the gang of 15 people stormed the society, throwing stones at residents and threatening further violence. The CM himself is said to have intervened, leading to the Crime Branch investigating the case.
