FIR against Hardik Patel for keeping mobile charger, battery in jail

AHMEDABAD: An FIR was registered today against Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel after police recovered a mobile phone charger and a battery from his possession in a Surat jail, where he has been lodged.

Police said they recovered the accessories, and also a letter, from Hardik's possession yesterday when he was being escorted out to be produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate at Visnagar.

The FIR was lodged at Sachin police station in Surat under section 188 of the IPC (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), as well as sections 43, 44 and 45 (12) of the Prison Act for receiving, bringing or removing prohibited articles from prison cells.

"When the police were taking him out of the jail yesterday afternoon to be taken to Visnagar, where he was to be produced before a local court in connection with an FIR filed against him and others for rioting and assault, they recovered a mobile charger, a mobile battery and a letter from his possession," said Sachin PS in-charge A S Brahmbhatt.

"The objects were recovered when he was still inside the jail, so an FIR was filed against him," he said.

The development comes close on the heels of the recovery of a mobile phone last Saturday from outside the jail barrack where Hardik is lodged.

The recovery of the mobile phone had put Hardik under scanner, as police were investigating whether the phone, recovered just outside his barrack, belongs to him.