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Why the Gujarat BJP and the CMO are affected by conman Kiran Patel’s arrest

-Story by Jumana Shah • Yesterday 6:24 pm

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The arrest of alleged scamster and conman Kiran Patel, who was responsible for high-level security breach in Jammu and Kashmir for claiming Z-plus security cover and visiting sensitive border areas posing as an official from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), has disconcerted the Gujarat BJP and the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in Gandhinagar.

Last week, Hitesh Pandya, a Public Relations Officer (PRO) serving in the CMO for two decades, resigned after his son Amit Chavda was one of the two people found accompanying Patel when he was arrested in Srinagar. Chavda and his associate Jay Sitapara are reportedly being questioned by the police, but Pandya’s resignation in the CMO has opened a Pandora’s box.

Pandya, who started his career as a journalist with Rajkot-based daily Fulchhab, had joined in 2001.

He has worked with five chief ministers, beginning with Keshubhai Patel. On his social media, Pandya introduces himself as “associated with ABVP, BJP media cell and president of BJP intellectual cell”. He was also the chairman of Rajkot municipal school board. Until a few months ago, his office was based out of the official residence of the chief minister. Pandya’s 43-year-old son Amit was BJP’s social media in-charge of north Gujarat. He was removed from the post and the BJP’s primary membership last week. Amit runs a business of installing CCTV cameras and is reportedly awarded regular government contracts, which are under scrutiny now.

According to Pandya, Amit and Kiran have known each other for over a decade. Kiran had joined an organisation called ‘Nation First Foundation’, launched by Hitesh Pandya in 2013 as a vehicle to propagate then CM Narendra Modi’s ideology. It was both an online and offline platform where youth were invited to engage with ideas on nation-building. Though Pandya says he had insisted that Amit end his association with Kiran, he also admits that Amit had gone to J&K to expand and promote his CCTV business with his permission.

Three FIRs were filed against Kiran Patel in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Bayad in Aravalli district since 2017 for forgery, cheating and criminal intimidation.

One of the FIRs even mentions him boasting about his “connections with the PMO” while trying to cheat people. In the last few days, since Kiran’s cover blew up, shocking details of his past activities and accusations against him have surfaced. Another FIR was filed last week by former BJP minister and Congress turncoat Jawahar Chavda’s brother Jagdish Chavda against Kiran and his wife Malini for cheating, impersonation and criminal conspiracy.

Kiran had approached Chavda posing as a real-estate broker to facilitate the sale of his bungalow in an upmarket area of Ahmedabad. Kiran had suggested the property would fetch better value if it was renovated and took possession of the property for renovation. A few days later, when Chavda returned from a trip, he discovered Kiran and his wife had taken over the bungalow and even changed the nameplate, putting up one showing their own names. The incident first came to light last year; Chavda had approached the local police but no complaint was registered. After the registration of complaint last week, Malini was arrested from Bharuch this week.

It has been reported that Kiran brandished his connections with RSS and VHP in Gujarat to execute his nefarious plans, but officials in both organisations claimed they have never met him. Kiran’s latest scheme, it has emerged in initial police interrogation, was to bag government contracts for various services, acquire land at cheaper rates with his fake connections and pass these on to businessmen in Gujarat for a commission.

He had already roped in a few businessmen from Surat on the promise to buy land in J&K for industrial development. Among his followers on Twitter is Pradeepsinh Vaghela, former president of the BJP Yuva Morcha in Gujarat, now a general secretary of the BJP and a rising star often spotted in top power circles of the ruling party.

As skeletons keep tumbling out of Kiran’s cupboard, it is evident that he spread his net far and wide in Gujarat. But exactly whose support in the power circles actually bolstered his cockiness and confidence is an unraveling tale.

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