Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani gets ‘death threats’, Y-category security sought

Police have identified the person who allegedly threatened to shoot the Dalit leader, and filed an FIR against him.

A delegation of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch met Gujarat police chief Shivanand Jha on Thursday to seek Y-category security cover for its convenor, Jignesh Mevani, in view of two alleged death threats directed at him this week.

Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mewani’s aides said he had received similar death threats through the social media on earlier occasions too. (Arijit Sen/HT Photo)

Mewani, also an independent MLA from Vadgam, alleged that he received a telephonic death threat for the second consecutive day on Thursday. “Jignesh has received such threats through Facebook and Twitter on earlier occasions too. He has been working for the under-privileged and the downtrodden, and one can understand who may be unhappy with that,” said Subodh Parmar, Mewani’s associate.

The legislator had won the Vadgam seat in Bansakantha district with Congress backing in the 2017 Gujarat assembly elections.

Mevani alleged in a social media post that his associate, Kaushik Parmar, received the threat while he was using the former’s mobile phone. A complaint has been lodged at the Vadgam police station. “Parmar, another convenor of the party, handles Mewani’s office in Vadgam. Based on his complaint, we registered an FIR against the caller who identified himself as Rajvir Mishra,” said police sub-inspector RP Zala.

Parmar told police that he carries a mobile phone with an old number belonging to Mevani. A case has been registered under Section 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code.

(With agency inputs)