Togadia: Threat to life

Ahmedabad, January 16

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international president Pravin Togadia today said he left the VHP office yesterday and “disappeared” for some time because he apprehended a possible “encounter killing” by the police.

Togadia was admitted to a private hospital after being found lying unconscious in Shahibagh locality last night. He had remained “missing” for 10 hours. Today, he convened a press conference after doctors permitted him to speak. 

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Togadia (62) said, “I have been feeling for some time that some forces were trying to suppress my voice because I was speaking for the implementation of the promises the BJP had made before coming to power.”

He said he was also informed that the government had advised the police to revive very old cases against him.  Asked which “forces” he suspected to be behind threats to him, Togadia said he would reveal the same “at an appropriate time with conclusive evidence”. He said he was performing pooja at the VHP office when someone barged into his room and told him that a Rajasthan Police team, assisted by the Gujarat Police, would soon reach there to pick him up and “kill in an encounter”.

Initially, he did not take the person seriously, but later he came to know that a Rajasthan Police had indeed landed in Ahmedabad with arrest warrants. He said he left the VHP office in an auto towards the residence of a “non-VHP friend” in Thaltej locality,  informing the security guard posted outside the office that he would be back in 30 minutes. His suspicion about “encounter killing” strengthened when on his way to Thaltej he contacted the Rajasthan CM and the Home Minister and both told him that no police team had been sent for him with any arrest warrant. “I switched off my phones so that my whereabouts could not be traced,” he said. After reaching his friend’s place, he contacted his lawyer friends in Jaipur and was informed about the arrest warrants issued by the Ganganagar court. The lawyers advised him to appear in the court.

“I decided to reach Jaipur and surrender in the court. I hired an auto for the airport to board a flight to Jaipur. I covered my face so that no one could recognise me,” he said. While approaching Shahibagh, he felt uneasy and started sweating profusely. He told the auto driver to turn towards Bapunagar to visit a nursing home. “Soon afterwards, I passed out and after hours I found myself in this hospital,” he said. — OC