Hardik held in 2017 case as soon as he walks out of jail

Ahmedabad: Congress leader Hardik Patel, who walked out of the Sabarmati Central Jail here on Thursday a day after he was granted bail in a sedition case, was immediately arrested by Gandhinagar district police in a 2017 case of addressing a rally without police permission, an official said.

A local court in Ahmedabad had on Wednesday granted bail to Patel, four days after he was arrested for failing to appear before the trial court in a 2015 sedition case.

As soon as he walked out of the jail on Thursday afternoon, he was arrested by Mansa tehsil police of Gandhinagar district in connection with an FIR registered against him in 2017 for disobeying a police order.

“We arrested Hardik Patel as soon as he walked out of the jail today. Ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections in December 2017, he had addressed a gathering in Mansa town without police permission. While the FIR was lodged at that time, he was arrested in the case today,” police sub inspector of Mansa, S S Pawar, said.

Patel was arrested on January 18 by the crime branch of Viramgam tehsil in Ahmedabad district for failing to appear before the trial court here in the 2015 sedition case, after a warrant was issued against him.

He had been previously arrested in connection with this sedition case filed by the Ahmedabad crime branch after violence broke out during a rally of the Patidar community in the city on August 25, 2015.

The quota agitation spearhead was granted bail in July 2016, and in November 2018, the court had framed charges against him and other accused in the case.

Patel had joined the Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.