On 22 September, 2015, Hardik Patel had organised a public meeting in Bayad Taluka of Aravali District, allegedly without prior permission. The court passed order on a habeas corpus writ filed at 1:30 am and heard by Justice MR Shah at his residence at 2:30 am.
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Dinesh Patel, Hardik Patel’s aide filed a petition, seeking the court’s intervention to direct authorities to produce Hardik Patel.
The Gujarat Police are on the lookout for Hardik Patel, the leader of the quota stir who gave the law keepers the slip on Tuesday, even as they picked up his close aide and two others.
The police, however, said the 22-year-old had run away before he could be taken into custody. However, the high court asked the state government to find Hardik, saying “he is a citizen of the country”.
He was arrested again on Saturday after he attempted to hold a protest rally in Surat. Patel had on Tuesday evaded arrest following a police crackdown on a public meeting in the Aravalli district while 17 other protesters were arrested for disobeying prohibitory orders. The two were to address a press conference to raise question where Hardik had mysteriously disappeared.
The officer said the police have cordoned off the areas surrounding the place to detain the Patel leader.
After the meeting, the police tried to detain him but according to IG Hasmukh Patel, he managed to evade them. “As we came to know about it, our police team went there to detain him but he ran away from there to evade detention”, Inspector General of Police Hasmmukh Patel said. Hardik has also been named as the 13th accused in a complaint lodged at Dhansura police station.
“We are prepared to be sacrificed for the interests of the Patel community”, Mr. Hardik said, slamming the Anandiben administration for its attempts to break the agitation.
Reacting to the police claims members of the the PAAS said “The police claim that he escaped the police and disappeared but we are apprehending that the police have arrested him and is not disclosing”.
“There was no trace of Hardik and we did not know where he was”.
After the incident, police have put up barricades on roads in Gandhiangar, Sabarkantha and Aravalli districts and intensified combing operation in the region to detain him, the IG said, adding that Hardik may be detained tonight.
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Meanwhile, Hardik’s close aide Chirag Patel said PAAS had applied for permission for the gathering but it was denied by the police.
