Police 'arrests' six, who 'surrender'
VHP, Bajrang Dal disown responsibility of Gaja Gamini sabotage

Amid high drama and confusion, the police finally arrested six persons alleged to have sabotaged the premiere of M.F. Husain’s film Gaja Gamini at City Pulse multiplex in Gandhinagar. The Pethapur police on Friday morning arrested six men owing allegiance to a recently floated outfit - the Hindu Samrajya Sena. However, they were released on bail in the evening.

According to the police complaint filed on Wednesday, a mob of about 50 men damaged a painting by M.F. Husain at the multiplex gallery and destroyed hoardings and posters on Wednesday afternoon. The miscreants reportedly were enraged with the nude painting of Goddess Saraswati by Husain, which had created a controversy two years back.

According to the official version of the police, they were able to identify the accused from the vehicles seized on the spot after the incident. The police had seized one Bajaj Caliber motorcycle with registration number G.J.1.BL 8397 and one Kinetic Honda with registration number G.J.1.A. 3439. The police tracked the owners of the vehicles and arrested them. Sub-inspector and investigating officer of the case Bharat Patel of the Pethapur police station said, "The police tracked Hargovind Rabari and Dharmendra Sharma, the owners of the seized vehicles, and got the clue of the other accused, who were arrested on Friday." He said the duo is co-accused in the case and is still at large, "but they will be arrested within 24 hours," he added. Those arrested are Dushyant Jagdishbhai Brahmabhatt, Manoj Ratilal Mistry, Himanshu Sureshbhai Patel, Rajesh Satyanarayan Rao, Ajit Vijayan Nayar and Manoj Jaipal Yadav. All the six accused are the residents of the same locality, D Cabin in Sabarmati area.

The police has registered the offence under Sections 147, 148 and 149 for rioting, Section 324 for inflicting grievous hurt, IPC Section 427 for inflicting damage to property and other sections of the Bombay Police Act.

However, all the six men were released on bail on Friday evening. The police produced them before the first class judicial magistrate H. Brahmabhatt. Advocate Chetan Shah, appearing for the applicants, submitted that the offence under which the accused were booked were bailable and the accused must be released on bail. The court granted bail to all the accused on a personal bond of Rs 5,000 each.

Vishva Hindu Parishad has denied that the miscreants belonged to the VHP or Bajrang Dal. Joint secretary of state VHP Jaideep Patel said on Friday evening, "These people neither belong to the VHP nor the Bajrang Dal, they belong to the Hindu Samrajya Sena, an outfit that operates in the Sabarmati area.

Republished fromAsian Age