Ahmedabad, Jun 23 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday came out in support of his party MLA in Gujarat Chaitar Vasava, sentenced to seven years in jail by a court in a 2023 criminal case, claiming charges against him were false, and hit out at the ruling BJP.
He alleged the case was part of a conspiracy hatched against Vasava by the ruling party due to his growing popularity and work among tribals in Gujarat.
Earlier in the day, a sessions court in Rajpipla town in Narmada district sentenced Vasava, his wife and seven others to seven years' imprisonment in a 2023 case of assaulting forest officials and extortion. Additional sessions Judge A V Hirpara also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on each of them, said government lawyer Vandana Bhatt.
Kejriwal said in a video message that Vasava's popularity among the tribal community prompted his opponents to hatch a conspiracy against him over the past several months.
"A conspiracy was hatched against him, a false case was filed, and today he has been sentenced to seven years in jail," the former Delhi Chief Minister said.
Calling the BJP as "the ED Party," Kejriwal maintained the ruling party knew that as long as Vasava remained in the area, they would not be able to get their MLA elected from there.
The tribal leader was elected from the Dediapada (ST) assembly constituency in Narmada district in 2022.
"Therefore, they allegedly hatched a conspiracy to have him sentenced to seven years so that he could be removed from the position of MLA," the AAP convener claimed.
Democracy does not function through pressure tactics and hooliganism, and the more they try to suppress Vasava, the bigger a leader he will emerge, Kejriwal insisted, coming out in support of his party colleague.
Vasava, his wife and personal assistant were among nine people who were sentenced to seven years in jail by the Rajpipla court in the case of assault and extorting money from forest department officials after they tried to remove encroachment from a forest land.
As per the prosecution, the incident took place on October 30, 2023.
Forest department officials removed cotton crop cultivated on illegally occupied government land, which led to a dispute. The officials were then called to Vasava's residence at Dediapada in Narmada district to discuss the issue.
At his residence, Vasava threatened the officials, slapped one of them, and fired in the air from a pistol. The accused, including Vasava's wife, extorted a total of Rs 60,000 from forest officials for removing the crop and Vasava later destroyed the evidence by concealing or disposing of the pistol, police said.
