The Hindu : National : Babubhai Katara also faces poll-related case

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National

National

Babubhai Katara also faces poll-related case

Special Correspondent

Charges include booth capturing and voting at two places

Photo: PTI/ Manvender V. Love

REMANDED: Suspended BJP MP from Gujarat Babubhai Katara being brought out of the Patiala House Court in New Delhi on Thursday. He and the woman who was to travel with him were remanded.

AHMEDABAD : Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament from Dahod Babubhai Katara, who was arrested for alleged human trafficking at the Delhi airport on Wednesday, is also facing a case of violation of election laws.

The case pending in the Gujarat High Court was filed by Congress candidate Prabha Taviad, who lost to Mr. Katara by a margin of only 361 votes in the 2004 parliamentary elections. The charges include booth capturing and casting votes at two places in the same constituency. During cross-examination, Mr. Katara admitted voting twice — at the booth in his native village Chitrodiya and again in the taluka town of Jhalod where he resides. Though he claimed that it was a "mistake," the court noted that he allowed his name to figure in two electoral rolls and misused his voting rights.

The petitioner alleged that Mr. Katara and his men "captured" at least nine booths, including one at Chitrodiya village, and the polling percentage in all these booths was nearly 90 — much more than the turnout in the constituency. His son, Bhavesh Katara, was also named in the petition for booth capturing.

Mr. Babubhai Katara was hailed by the BJP as "giant killer" after he defeated the seven-time winner Somjibhai Damor of the Congress in the 1999 Parliamentary elections.

Assets

He allegedly under-valued property he owned while filing nominations in 2004. The assets he listed included 9.55 hectares of agricultural land valued at only Rs.1.90 lakhs, two houses in Chitrodiya village worth Rs.4.5 lakhs, some gold ornaments belonging to his wife, and a car. There was no mention of a printing press he owned in Jhalod.

A senior Congress leader from Dahod, Galabhai Damor, who claimed to be knowing the Katara family, alleged that the MP had been indulging in human trafficking earlier also. According to him, Mr. Katara's wife had never travelled abroad. Mr. Katara's home in Jhalod as well as the printing press were locked.

Serious view

Soon after his arrest, both the BJP and the VHP sought to snap their links with Mr Katara. While BJP State unit president Purshottam Rupala said the party had taken a "very serious view" of his alleged misconduct, VHP State unit secretary Jaideep Patel said Mr. Katara was not a member since 1999.

The 46-year-old Mr. Katara married Shardaben on April 2, 1982, and has two sons, Bhavesh and Amit.

Both the sons were arrested by the Dahod police on the "Uttarayan" festival day on January 14 in connection with a drunken brawl and for allegedly beating up a police constable.

The elder son was arrested in February along with three others in for allegedly robbing and killing four persons in Jhalod during the post-Godhra riots on March 1, 2002. He is currently out on bail.

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