Gujarat: AAP MLA arrested for allegedly assaulting taluka panchayat president

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said the BJP is furious after losing to AAP in Visavadar by-election in Gujarat

Published on: Jul 6, 2025, 20:33:47 IST

By Maulik Pathak

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Ahmedabad: The Narmada police in Gujarat arrested Chaitar Vasava, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Dediapada, for allegedly attacking a taluka panchayat president belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during a public meeting in his constituency on Saturday.

Arvind Kejriwal, AAP’s national convener, claimed the arrest his party's MLA was political. (Representational/PTI)

A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against Vasava at Dediapada police station at 6 pm on Saturday, based on a complaint by Sanjay Vasava, president of the Dediapada taluka panchayat.

The complainant alleged that Vasava physically attacked him with intent to cause death during the event organised under the Aapno Taluko Vibrant Taluko (ATVT) program, a Gujarat government initiative to discuss local development.

He alleged that the MLA threw a mobile phone at him, causing head injuries, threatened him with glass shards, abused the woman president of Sagbara taluka panchayat, insulted people to disturb peace, and threw a glass causing property damage.

The incident occurred after Vasava objected to his nominee's exclusion from a committee during the ATVT meeting, as per the FIR. Vasava disagreed with BJP members, including Sanjay Vasava.

Authorities imposed Section 144 in Dediapada, prohibiting gatherings of more than four people. The MLA has been charged under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 109 (attempt to murder), Section 79 (insulting the modesty of a woman, 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) and Section 351(3) (criminal intimidation), among others.

The police sought five-days remand for Vasava from a magistrate court in Rajpipla on Sunday but it was turned down. Vasava’s bail plea application was also rejected by the same court on Sunday. As a result, he was sent to judicial custody. Vasava is now likely to approach the sessions court in Rajpipla for his bail on Monday.

Arvind Kejriwal, AAP’s national convener, claimed the arrest was political.

“AAP MLA @Chaitar_Vasava has been arrested by BJP in Gujarat. The BJP is furious after losing to AAP in the Visavadar by-election. If they think that AAP will be scared by such arrests, then this is their biggest mistake,” Kejriwal said on X.

“The people of Gujarat are fed up with BJP's misrule, hooliganism and dictatorship. They will give a befitting reply to the BJP,” he added.

There was no immediate reaction from BJP to Kejriwal's charges.

In December 2023, Chaitar Vasava was arrested for allegedly threatening forest officers and firing shots in the air while attempting to address a dispute related to the cultivation of forest land by local tribals in Narmada district.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maulik Pathak
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.Read More

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