Owners of Popular Builders felicitated by Patidar community for standing up to ‘injustice’.
Patidar community on Sunday rallied in support of the owners of Popular Builders, Raman Patel and Dasrath Patel, who had given statements against arrested senior cops DG Vanzara and Abhay Chudasma and former minister of home Amit Shah to the CBI team probing the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.
The leaders and members of the community felicitated the Patel brothers at a function held at Bapunagar on Sunday under the banner of ‘Patidar Ekta Sammelan’.
Speaking at the function, Raman Patel expressed his anguish, saying: “We do not feel safe and it is
really painful that we cannot move free without bodyguard.” It may be recalled here that Sohrabuddin had allegedly opened fire outside the office of Popular Builders in 2004. The city police had exerted pressure on the Patel brothers to name Sohrabuddin in the matter, but they had refused to do so.
Raman Patel thanked the community for their wholehearted support. He said that the reports published in the media about their sufferings were true.
“We were booked in fake cases by police and treated in a manner worse than in which they would have treated terrorists,” he said. He also said that they were subjected to mental and physical torture and the police called their parents’ names.
“The fake cases against us have damaged our reputation and we have to pay a heavy price for giving statement (to the CBI).” He also said that his family was under tremendous stress because of allegations made against them.
In his address, Dasrath Patel said, “We have no interest in politics and do not intend to enter politics either. However, we will work for the unity of the community.” Although the organisers called the meeting a non-political gathering, Patidar leaders of various political parties such as the Congress, MJP and NCP were present in the sammelan. But BJP leaders were conspicuous by their absence.
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