Angry father flexes muscle

A day after Prohibition Minister Fakirbhai Vaghela’s sons were detained in connection with a clash at a garba venue in Gandhinagar, the...

A day after Prohibition Minister Fakirbhai Vaghela’s sons were detained in connection with a clash at a garba venue in Gandhinagar, the Minister — who on Tuesday night reportedly misused his powers to bail his sons Jitu and Alpesh out of trouble — stated that it was a responsible father who had gone to the police station, and not a Minister.

Demanding that IPS officer D.G. Vanzara be arrested on charges of ‘‘attempt to murder’’, he said: ‘‘I will not rest till I get justice. I have drawn the attention of the Chief Minister and Minister of State for Home Gordhan Zadaphia and demanded that he be arrested.’’ However, he ruled out tendering his resignation over the issue.

What passes, ask sons

Ahmedabad: ‘‘What passes? Every Navratri, organisers offer passes to us. They request us to attend their garba because we are sons of a minister. Dozens of passes are given to us and we distribute them,” said Jitu Vaghela, elder son of the minister.
Jitu (24) and his brother Alpesh (22) are admitted in the Gandhinagar Civil Hospital. Asked why they tried to enter the venue through the exit, Jitu said: ‘‘Our group was large, and there was rush at the main gate.”

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Vaghela, who was in Ahmedabad when the incident took place, said he first went to Civil Hospital in Gandhinagar to inquire about the health of the injured. It was only later that he went to Sector 7 police station in Gandhinagar.

‘‘There was a scuffle after one of the organisers slapped my son after an argument,’’ the Minister said. After this, he added Vanzara and his family members rushed to the spot and ‘‘treated my sons like hardened criminals’’.

‘‘Although Gandhinagar does not fall under Vanzara’s jurisdiction, he beat up my sons,’’ the Minister said. He said the IPS officer had ‘‘no business to be there that night’’ as, being the DCP of the Crime Branch, he should have been in Ahmedabad supervising security arrangements.

‘‘Vanzara arrived at the scene and slapped my sons. He took them to the police station in his vehicle and beat them up,’’ he alleged.

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However, there are a few questions that remain unanswered. Why were the two sons accompanied by Prohibition Department men, who were reportedly backing them as they tried to gate crash. Vaghela said a drunken brawl at that very venue four days ago had made him ‘‘as Prohibition Minister’’ station cops of the department at the venue to ‘‘prevent recurrence.’’

‘‘Allegations that the Prohibition Police were escorting my sons are false,’’ he claimed.

Vanzara refuted the Minister’s allegations and maintained that the charges ‘‘were cooked up’’ and ‘‘hence there is no question of my arrest’’. The law will take its own course, he said.