Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
Credit: PTI Photo
Ahmedabad: Five Congress workers arrested in a rioting case were remanded in judicial custody in Ahmedabad in Gujarat hours before party leader Rahul Gandhi arrived on a daylong visit.
Incidentally, Gandhi was supposed to meet them at Vasna police station, where they were lodged, but police produced them in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate BG Rathod in the morning at the end of their police remand.
The five have been shifted to Sabarmati central jail, Vasna police station inspector Rahul Patel said.
Congress MLA Imran Khedawala said the police produced the five party workers in court in the morning though their remand was to end at 4pm.
The party's legal cell approached Sabarmati central jail and sought permission for Gandhi to meet these five workers but it is unlikely to be processed on such short notice, Khedawala said.
"Even if Rahul Gandhi is not able to meet the jailed party workers, he will surely meet their family members," Khedawala told reporters.
The five were arrested after a clash between Congress and BJP workers outside Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, the headquarters of the opposition party, in Paldi area on July 2 amid a protest by ruling party workers against Rahul Gandhi's remarks in the Lok Sabha about Hindus.
Both sides had indulged in stone pelting, leading to injuries to five police personnel, including an assistant commissioner of police, and cross FIRs were lodged on the complaints of both groups.
One FIR was against nearly 450 workers of the Congress and BJP, while another was on a complaint of the BJP's youth wing, leading to the arrest of these five.
During his Ahmedabad visit, Gandhi is scheduled to meet kin of victims of the Rajkot gaming zone fire, Vadodara boat capsize and Morbi bridge collapse incidents, as per Congress office-bearers.