Dalit Cong leader and family booked under Gujarat Terror Act after threatening to convert to Islam
Gandhinagar: Three weeks after threatening to convert to Islam if no action was taken against Gondal BJP MLA Geetaba Jadeja and her husband over an alleged assault on his son, Congress Dalit leader Rajesh alias Raju Solanki and four of his family members have been charged under the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Act. The police accused them of running a crime syndicate since 2014.
Inspector JJ Patel of the Local Crime Branch in Junagadh filed an FIR under Sections 3(1)(2), 3(4) of the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Act and the Arms Act at a Division Police Station, Junagadh. The complaint lists Raju, his brother Jayesh alias Javo alias Savan Solanki, his sons Sanjay and Dev, and his nephew Yogesh Bagda as accused. Raju, his two sons, and his nephew have been arrested, while Jayesh remains in judicial custody for an attempt to murder case involving a doctor.
The FIR highlights multiple previous criminal cases against the family members, including attempted murder, assaulting policemen, theft, robbery, rioting, extortion, kidnapping, and criminal intimidation over the past decade. The police described Raju as the gang's leader, citing the registration of numerous cases against each family member.
The charges follow Raju's threat on July 11 to convert to Islam if the state government did not act against the accused MLA and her husband, Jayrajsinh. The threat was made after Raju's son, Sanjay, allegedly faced assault, kidnapping, and threats from a group of 11 men, including the MLA's son, Jyotiradityasinh alias Ganesh.
Superintendent of Police Harshad Mehta denied that the charges were retaliatory, stating that the accused had a history of criminal activities and that the recent Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Act charges were based on these findings. He noted that despite the high-profile nature of the case, the accused continued their criminal activities, including a recent assault on a doctor by Jayesh and others.
A chargesheet has already been filed against the 11 accused in the assault on Sanjay, who is the president of the Junagadh city unit of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the Congress's student wing.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
