SURAT: Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti convener Alpesh Kathiriya was granted bail by a local court on Monday in connection with the sedition case registered against him in 2015 at Amroli police station in the city. He was named co-accused along with three other accused, including Patidar quota leader Hardik Patel.
Kathiriya was granted bail by court of principal and district and sessions judge.
He was released on conditional bail and is not permitted to leave Gujarat without prior permission of the court. He was also asked to furnish a bond of Rs 25,000. Kathiriya will also have to present himself in police station near his residence on first of every month.
He was arrested on November 19 by the city crime branch on transfer warrant from Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad. He is also facing sedition charges in a case registered in Ahmedabad.
Kathiriya was booked in October 2015 under sedition charges along with Hardik, Vipul Desai and Chirag Desai. He was accompanying Hardik on October 3, 2015, when the Patidar quota leader allegedly asked his followers to ‘kill 2-4 cops’.
Other accused in the case were arrested and granted bail in past, while Kathiriya was not arrested by the police since then. Despite his presence at public places and even in police stations Kathiriya was not arrested by the city police for three years. He was arrested by the police only after Ahmedabad police arrested him in sedition case.
Kathiriya has eight cases registered against him.