Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi, a close associate of Gujarat BJP President CR Paatil, who in turn is considered equally powerful as Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, is under fire in his very home town Surat after a brutal Bollywood thriller-like murder of a girl by her jilted lover in the city.
Banners and posters have come up at various places in Surat, which also incidentally is the home town of CR Paatil, against Sanghavi, even as the Gujarat Congress has demanded Sanghavi’s resignation asserting that the law and order situation in the state had gone for a toss.
Simultaneously, several diamond industrialists and Patidar community leaders have handed over a strongly-worded memorandum to Surat Police Commissioner Ajay Tomar demanding justice for the girl’s family and improved policing in the city.
It was on February 12 when 21-year-old college student Grishma Nandlal Vekariya was brutally murdered by same-aged Fenil Goyani, who slit her throat in full public view in the presence of her parents in Posadara village near Kamrej town on the outskirts of Surat.
What has sent shock waves is that the drama continued for some 40 minutes in open with the youth holding the girl hostage before slitting her throat. Soon after, he also put a blade on his wrist and was subsequently hospitalised.
While nobody from the scores of people who watched this could rescue the girl from the clutches of a frail boy and some took videos, the police were nowhere to be seen for a good 40 minutes. No action has been taken against any policeman in the case.
Fenil is a fashion designer at a private firm and he allegedly committed the crime after Grishma reportedly spurned his proposal for a relationship. Her brother Dhruv and uncle Subhashbhai Vekariya were also assaulted by Goyani as they were trying to save her.
AICC in-charge of Gujarat affairs Raghu Sharma, State Congress president Jagdish Thakor, former State chief Amit Chavda, chief spokesperson Manish Doshi, MLA Jignesh Mevani and several others were detained on Tuesday evening by the police when they took out protest procession and created road blockade near Paldi area near the GPCC headquarters.
Sharma and Thakor have demanded the resignation of MoS (Home) Harsh Sanghavi, who belongs to Surat and is a legislator from the Majura constituency in the diamond city.
They expressed their shock that such a broad daylight murder could take place in full public view and the police were caught unaware. Sharma asserted, “The law and order situation is worsening in the state and the government is a mute spectator.” Thakor said that Sanghavi should apologise to Grishma’s parents and quit his post. The Congress workers also burned an effigy of Harsh Sanghavi in protest.
Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani, who joined the Congress last year, tweeted, “This is the BJP's Gujarat model where the mafia has no fear of law.” He posted a screenshot of the video of the incident that went viral.
Meanwhile, chairman of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council and Surat Diamond Association chief Dinesh Navadia, Kiran Hospital president and Padma Shri awardee Mathurbhai Sawani, Samast Patidar Samaj President Veljibhai Shetha, Saurashtra Patel Samaj President Kanjibhai Bhalara, diamond industrialist Laljibhai Patel and Patidar leader Savjibhai Vekariya, made strong representations before Surat Police Commissioner Ajay Tomar.
They asserted that not only should the girl’s family get justice, but also to ensure that such incidents did not recur and the police should step up patrolling.
