Gujarat Boiler Blast Case: What AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava Said Following His Detention with Supporters

Ahmedabad: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Chaitar Vasava and around 100 of his supporters were detained in Gujarat's Narmada district on Tuesday when he was going to surrender at a police station in neighbouring Bharuch in connection with a case registered against him. Dediapada police station inspector Prakash Pandya said the MLA was taken into preventive custody in view of law and order concerns as he was appearing before the police without any notice.

Pandya said we detained Vasava and around 100 of his supporters at Navagam in view of law and order concerns when they were going to a police station in Ankleshwar in connection with an FIR lodged against the MLA on December 10. A case was registered against tribal leader Vasava for trespassing into the premises of an industrial unit shortly after a boiler explosion at Ankleshwar GIDC (Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation) in Bharuch district on December 3.

Four workers were killed in the blast. In the FIR lodged at the Ankleshwar GIDC police station on December 10, Vasava has been charged under sections of the Indian Penal Code that relate to obstructing public servants in discharge of public functions, threatening to cause hurt to public servant, criminal trespass and wrongful restraint. The FIR said Vasava and his supporters barged into the premises even as rescue operations were underway at the factory.

They went to meet the relatives of the deceased workers and obstructed the police and other officials from discharging their duties and even threatened factory officials, it said. They also instigated the relatives of the workers against the police and the government, the FIR said. 

I am committed to seeking justice for the people: Vasava

Reacting to his detention, Vasava said he was going to appear before the police in connection with the FIR as he was wrongly implicated.

"I am committed to seeking justice for the people, and I will continue to do so until my last breath, even if that means going to jail," he said.

Citing another FIR lodged against him at Rajpardi police station in Bharuch on December 7, Vasava alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was running a "dictatorial" government. "A case was filed against us for holding a peaceful protest march, but we are not going to be scared," he said. Vasava is an MLA from Dediapada in Narmada district. Earlier this year, he contested the Lok Sabha elections from the Bharuch seat but lost.