Dummy candidate racket: AAP leader Yuvrajsinh Jadeja 'falls ill,' given time till April 21

RAJKOT: High drama was witnessed in Bhavnagar, the epicenter of the despicable dummy candidate racket, on Wednesday when AAP leader and vociferous education activist Yuvrajsinh Jadeja, was summoned for questioning by the special investigation team.
A day after releasing a video promising to cooperate with the probe, Jadeja failed to appear before the cops citing ill health, and sought 10 more days. Jadeja, who is under scanner for allegedly demanding money for not revealing a few names, reached the city in the morning to report in the special operations group (SOG) office by 12 noon.
He addressed the media too and reiterated full support and cooperation in the investigation. Jadeja also announced that he would first offer prayers at a temple a km away from SOG office and then reach on foot.
To maintain law and order, police barricaded the entire SOG office, banned the entry of outsiders including media, and deployed heavy bandobast. Even as senior police officers kept waiting for him, Jadeja suddenly conveyed a message that he had fallen ill and would not be able to come for questioning.
Jadeja was issued summons under CrPC 161 asking him to appear before the SIT on Wednesday as he has constantly been claiming to have crucial information about more dummy candidates.
Police then issued fresh summons asking Jadeja to appear before SIT on April 21. Officials said they have given him one more opportunity as per the principle of natural justice.
Meanwhile, Bhavnagar police claimed to have collected primary evidence of financial translation against Jadeja.
Addressing the media, Bhavnagar range inspector general of police (IGP), Gautam Parmar, said, "There are some allegations against Jadeja regarding financial translations. Police investigated the facts presented by his aide Bipin Trivedi and we issued the summons after collecting the evidence."
Regarding Jadeja's arrest, Parmar said, "We will take a decision after questioning him."
Trivedi was interrogated by the police for the last few days. It is believed that he was the mediator between Jadeja and some accused in the racket regarding some suspicious financial transactions.
In all, 36 people have been booked in the racket that was thriving since 2012 and six of them have been arrested while one detained. "The number of accused is likely to increase as and when we get more evidence and they will be arrested," Parmar said.