Former chief of the Aam Admi Party’s Gujarat unit, Gopal Italia, was arrested by the Surat Police and taken to the Crime Branch office over certain derogatory statements against a state minister and the BJP’s state chief. He has now been released on bail.
Italia was booked by the Surat police last September for his allegedly defamatory comments about the state Home Minister, Harsh Sanghavi, and Gujarat BJP chief CR Paatil. The complaint was filed by a BJP worker, Pratap Chodwadia. Last year, Italia was detained and was taken to the Sarita Vihar police station by the Delhi Police for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. BJP's IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya shared a video of Italia, where he was heard calling PM Modi a “neech aadmi (a lowly person)”. The video was reportedly from 2019 and from during the run-up to the general elections.