Hardik absconding as Court issues arrest warrant and police looking for him

It has been two weeks since anyone saw the Indian National Congress (INC) leader Hardik Patel. He was last seen when his bail had been approved, after he had been sent to judicial custody by Ahmedabad magistrate on January 18. His number has been switched off, and all his aides claim that they have no idea where he is. He had been arrested on a non-bailable warrant issued to arrest him for not showing up in the trial court for the sedition case against him on Jan 18 from Viramgam.

Read: Court issues arrest warrant against Hardik Patel, MLA Vasoya

Second non-bailable warrant issued

Hardik was brought back to Ahmedabad and produced before the magistrate in the middle of the night, who then sentenced him to judicial custody till January 24, after which he was arrested by Mansa police as well in another case against him. However, trouble seems to be mounting for the young leader since on Friday, the Ahmedabad Trial Court issued yet another non-bailable arrest warrant against Patel for not being present in the court for the proceedings against him for the sedition case against him for his speeches in 2015 during the Patidar agitation.

Read: Priyanka Vadra leaps to defend arrested Hardik Patel, says he's being harassed

An exemption plea was filed in the session’s court by the legal team of the leader earlier claiming that there were several other cases pending before the High Court and that the Vastrapur Police was on the lookout for Hardik and that if he came to the court, he will be arrested. To avoid this, there already is an anticipatory bail plea pending before the Gujarat High Court.

Read: NSUI issued showcause notice over Hardik Patel's presence at its event

“We had filed the exemption plea and an anticipatory bail plea is pending before the High Court. So if Hardik appears before the Trial Court, the Vastrapur Police station officials will arrest him. So he couldn’t appear. This is the case of violence that broke out during the 2015 Patidar agitation. There are several cases pending before the courts. But we will fight them all,” said Rafiq Lokhandwala, the advocate for Hardik Patel.

However, even though there are cases pending against him, the leader seems to have gone underground and is not in contact with anyone in him official team either.

Read: Hardik Patel remanded to judicial custody for 6 days for failing to show up at trial